Future
Long-term plans call for I-49 to be extended southeastward from Lafayette to New Orleans and northward from Shreveport to Kansas City, Missouri where it will connect with other interstates and provide a seamless freeway link from Louisiana ports to the Canadian border in North Dakota via Interstate 29 and to other points north via Interstate 35.
Construction for the extension north is already underway in southwest Missouri, northern and southwestern Arkansas, and in northern Louisiana.
A 180-mile stretch of U.S. 71 from south Kansas City to Joplin will officially become Interstate 49 on Dec. 12, 2012.
U.S. 71 is already a divided highway with a 70 mph speed limit, but the change to an interstate meant eliminating all intersections and cross roads along the route. The Missouri Department of Transportation has awarded $63.3 million since 2009 to remove the crossings and replace them with four overpasses, nine interchanges and three outer roads.
Read more about this topic: Interstate 49
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“He who never sacrificed a present to a future good or a personal to a general one can speak of happiness only as the blind do of colors.”
—Olympia Brown (1835–1900)
“You have too much of a life yet before you, and have shown too much of promise as an officer, for your future to be lightly surrendered.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)