MoDOT chief backs separate truck lanes on I-70

ST. LOUIS -- The head of Missouri's transportation system favors separating large trucks from cars and other light vehicles on Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City.

Director Pete Rahn of the Missouri Department of Transportation said heavy trucks make up more than 40 percent of the traffic, four times the rate for which the highway was designed in the 1950s, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday.

Rahn made his comments during a ceremony near I-70 to mark the 50th anniversary of the interstate highway system. Rahn said the plan to separate truck and car traffic would require two additional I-70 lanes in each direction. He said the project could cost $3.5 billion.

The highway would have four lanes in each direction -- two for cars and other light vehicles and two for heavy trucks, separated by a concrete barrier, Rahn said.

-- The Associated Press