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
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—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)