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Published October 15, 2008 08:09 pm - LAMAR, Mo. — John Moore’s business, the Blue Top Restaurant in Lamar, has thrived in its location by U.S. Highway 71. “We have been here on the corner for 29 years, as long as I have owned it,” Moore said. “We get a lot of our business from the highway now. It’s so close to us.” City leaders, businesses await upgrade of U.S. 71 to I-49 By Joe Hadsall
jhadsall@joplinglobe.com LAMAR, Mo. — John Moore’s business, the Blue Top Restaurant in Lamar, has thrived in its location by U.S. Highway 71. “We have been here on the corner for 29 years, as long as I have owned it,” Moore said. “We get a lot of our business from the highway now. It’s so close to us.” If U.S. 71 is upgraded into a full interstate, then Lamar, Nevada and other cities along the highway would reap benefits. Lynn Calton, Lamar city administrator, said the designation would help economic development and improve safety. “We have been part of a regional effort to get 71 changed to an interstate,” Calton said. “If we have an interstate, it will help economic development, and the road will be safer.” Proposed I-49 The Missouri Department of Transportation is proposing to upgrade U.S. 71 between Kansas City and Joplin to interstate status. The proposed transformation calls for 11 non-ramped intersections, such as that at Missouri Highway 126 in Barton County, to be upgraded with ramps and acceleration lanes. Nearby, non-ramped intersections would be closed. Calton said the intersection closures would make the highway safer. “There have been a few fatality accidents north and south of us,” he said. “Interstates are generally safer because they separate all those crossings.” Other proposed changes include bigger signs and some new outer roads near closed interchanges. The most notable change would be the new designation: Interstate 49. “The road would look similar to I-44,” said Becky Baltz, MoDOT district engineer. “It would have wider road stripes, bigger signs and reference markers.” U.S. 71 already has four lanes and shoulders. The current median is so wide, Baltz said, that engineers may decide not to install a cable in the median as they did to prevent crossover crashes on Interstate 44. Highway 71 already meets interstate standards from northern Jasper County to Pineville. 
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