Groundbreaking Ceremony Begins Interchange Project

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new I-35 and 19th Street Interchange began on Tuesday with Mayor Randy Pogue giving remarks along with U.S. Congressman Sam Graves and Ed Hassinger, Missouri Department of Transportation Deputy Director and Chief Engineer.

The project will cost approximately $27 million dollars to construct and will feature a new interchange at I-35 and 19th Street. The new interchange will cross over I-35 to connect with 144th Street, and will include ramps to and from I-35. 

Mayor Pogue took time to outline the history of a second Kearney interchange which included two previous plans in 2002 and 2005. A third plan was submitted in 2014, and with the help of Congressman Graves, was approved by MoDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.

For many years former Mayor Bill Dane led the interchange initiative. In 2018 Kearney voters approved the one cent sales tax and $24 million bond issue to help fund the City’s share of the interchange. MoDOT is contributing another $10 million to complete the project.

Congressman Graves spoke about his role in the project starting in 2005 and included a brief background about how infrastructure projects are built. 

“We’ve come a long way this project, and I’ve learned a lot from projects just like this,” Graves told the audience. “It can get very frustrating because it takes a long time it seems like to get projects like this up and going. One of my priorities has always been to try to cut through the red tape and get projects like this done on time and on budget.”

Shovelholders that broke the ground for the ceremony included Mayor Pogue, Congressman Graves, Pat Dane, wife of the late Mayor Bill Dane, Keith Doss, Craig Porter, Chris Wilkerson representing Bill Wilkerson, Dr. Todd White, Alderman Holt, Alderman Spencer, Alderman Lehman, Alderman Barger, Ed Hasserman, Chris Redline, Terry Ecker, Greg Smith, Michael Waters, from MoDOT, Representative Josh Hurlbert, Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte, Tom Salisbury representing Congressman Roy Blunt, and Kearney Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Stacie Bratcher.

This project will also include a Diverging Diamond, the second one in Clay County. The project will also feature two separate roundabouts, new bike lanes, along with a walking trail and sidewalks. According to the MoDOT project webpage, the interchange should be open to traffic in the fall of 2023.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story