A highway construction project, nearly a decade in the making, was completed earlier this week in Southwest Missouri. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

This stretch of the Interstate 49 project which the Missouri Department of Transportation estimated to have cost 70.3 million dollars completed the final five miles between Pineville and the Missouri/Arkansas border. The project also added an interchange at Missouri Route 90, west of Jane. The expansion is a part of the I-49 Missouri Arkansas Connector that stretches 290 miles between Kansas City and Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Before the new construction, the existing I-49 project was completed in 2012. Missouri Governor Mike Parson and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson will be on hand next Thursday September 30 for a ribbon-cutting at the state line. The extension of I-49 between the two states will open for traffic next Friday October 1st. For 89 9 KRPS, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro