Clark County Highway, Bridge Projects Included in New MoDOT Five-Year Plan

Clark County is set to see nearly $14.7 million in highway and bridge projects move toward construction under Missouri’s newly approved 2027-2031 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission approved the five-year STIP on July 1. The plan lists transportation projects planned by state and regional planning agencies from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031. Statewide, the STIP makes available $13 billion in federal and state revenue for all modes of transportation, including $9.3 billion in contractor awards for road and bridge construction.

The STIP is MoDOT’s five-year road map for transportation improvements. It is considered a fiscally constrained plan, meaning projects listed for construction are tied to funding MoDOT expects to have available. MoDOT works with planning partners across the state to identify needs, set priorities and determine which projects can be funded. A draft version of the 2027-2031 STIP was released in May for public review, and MoDOT received 65 comments before the final plan was approved.

For readers, the key distinction is between projects approved for construction and those still in the scoping and design stage. MoDOT defines scoping and design as the early stages of a potential construction project, while projects listed in Section 4 of the STIP are considered commitments.

Three Clark County projects are listed in the approved highway and bridge construction schedule.

The largest is a $7.614 million pavement improvement project on U.S. 61 from the Iowa state line to 0.5 mile north of Route B in Lewis County near LaGrange. The project includes nine disconnected sections and also includes southbound and northbound lanes on Route 27 from the Iowa state line to the U.S. 61 interchange. The project is scheduled for a 2028 award, with construction funds programmed in the 2028-29 fiscal year.

A second U.S. 61 project is scheduled sooner. MoDOT lists a $5.201 million pavement resurfacing project on southbound lanes from Route 27 to 1.2 miles north of Route B in Lewis County near Canton. The work also includes sections from the Iowa state line to Route 27 and Route 27 from north of the Fox River to U.S. 61. The project has an award date of December 2026, with construction funding programmed in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

The third construction project is a $1.874 million bridge improvement on U.S. 136 over a drainage ditch about three miles west of U.S. 61 near Alexandria. The project involves bridge F0955. MoDOT lists the award date as 2027, with construction funding programmed in the 2027-28 fiscal year.

The STIP also includes five Clark County projects in the scoping and design stage. Those projects are not yet approved for construction, but they are being studied or designed for possible future work.

Those scoping projects include a possible Route 81 bridge improvement over the BNSF Railway three miles north of Route 136 near Kahoka, with a future cost range of $2.001 million to $5 million; a Route 81 bridge improvement over Honey Creek 1.2 miles south of Route H near Kahoka, with a future cost range of $1.001 million to $2 million; and a U.S. 136 intersection improvement at Route 81 in Kahoka, with a future cost range of $2.001 million to $5 million.

Two additional scoping projects are listed for bridge work: a U.S. 136 bridge improvement over the BNSF Railway four miles west of Route 81 in Medill, with a future cost range of $2.001 million to $5 million; and a U.S. 61 bridge improvement over Route 27 two miles south of Route 136 near Wayland, with a future cost range of $301,000 to $1 million.

Together, the five scoping projects represent possible future construction costs ranging from about $7.3 million to $18 million. However, those projects would still have to move from scoping and design into a future construction schedule before MoDOT would be committed to building them.