Sierra Club questions I-70 truck lanes in Mo.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Environmentalists are questioning the safety of a state plan to add truck-only lanes to Interstate 70.

While separating car and truck traffic the interstate may be a good idea, the state may be overselling the benefits of its $4.1 billion proposal, the Sierra Club's Missouri chapter said in documents filed in response to the state's environmental review of the project.

Designed and built in the 1950s, I-70 is the fastest route between Kansas City and St. Louis and a major freight corridor. Officials say the road has outlived its planned 20-year life span and is now used by a hazardous mix of trucks and cars. Trucks were involved in more than 4,100 crashes on I-70 between 2002 and 2008.

Missouri envisions adding four lanes to I-70, with trucks traveling on two interior lanes in each direction, separated from general traffic by a grass median.

But the Sierra Club said those trucks would still have to cross from their lanes into general purpose lanes to exit the highway. As the trucks merged into the general purpose lanes, cars would be in their blind spots and may cause accidents.

"The actual separation of trucks and cars is significantly less than indicated in the promotional material," the Sierra Club said.

The Missouri Department of Transportation said it disagrees with the Sierra Club. The state decided truck-only lanes were the best solution after reviewing other options, such as widening the highway from two to three lanes in each direction and limiting trucks to the right two lanes, spokesman Bob Brendel said.

"I think we have responded to the concerns we've heard from the public through the years of studying I-70 with the best engineering judgment available today," Brendel said.

Slip ramps for the trucks to cross over would be added where trucks make up a small part of the overall traffic and it's safe to do so, according to the state.

Missouri could be part of an 800-mile corridor of such truck-only lanes extending across four states from Kansas City to the Ohio-West Virginia border.

The state has filed the plan with federal officials for approval, which could come at any time. Federal officials have approved limited use of truck-only lanes elsewhere but say none of those plans are similar to what's being proposed in Missouri.

While there is no money for the project, the state is pursuing $200 million in federal stimulus dollars to start construction on a 30-mile section of the highway.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com