MOUNTAIN VIEW, MO – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today joined members of the Missouri Department of Transportation and local officials to dedicate a new four-lane section of the Highway 60 corridor project.

 

            “Good roads connect people and communities,” said Bond. “This connection will attract and sustain businesses, jobs and a high quality of life for Missouri families.”

 

            Bond called the revived and expanded 14-mile of stretch highway being dedicated today an important step towards completion of a new four-lane corridor that will connect Southeast and Southwest Missouri.  Bond stressed that once complete, the new corridor will be critical to the Mountain View community and all of Southern Missouri.  The new highway will serve as the major artery of commerce connecting Southwest Missouri with the I-55 corridor and be vital in moving the products and services of Southern Missouri across the state and throughout the country.  In addition to supporting Missouri’s trucking, timber, and tourism industries, the new corridor will also improve rural communities’ access to health care facilities and schools.   

 

The Highway 60 corridor project is also creating much needed jobs for Missourians, Bond emphasized.  Currently, the total project estimate including permits, construction, and professional engineering dollars total $125 million.  Of this total, $110 million will complete the 59-mile section of the Highway 60 corridor.  Several Missouri subcontractors from the area are working on this project, including HR Quadri Contractors from Van Buren, Pace Construction from West Plains and Joe’s Bridge and Grading from Poplar Bluff, all of which are providing good paying jobs for Missouri workers.

 

            “The best thing that anyone can have to weather difficult financial times is a job and this project will create good paying jobs for Missourians,” said Bond. 

 

Bond pointed out that this highway project will also foster future economic growth in an area that needs it most.  According to a recent report by the Missouri Department of Transportation, half of the counties near the Highway 60 corridor gap are double the statewide poverty rate.  In this area, unemployment rates are some of the highest in the state. 

 

As one of the key authors of the federal highway bill, Bond secured over $1 billion in new highway funds for Missouri and $467.5 million for transportation projects statewide in the highway bill, including $25 million for a section of the Highway 60 project.  Bond also worked with Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson to secure $10 million for a section of the project in the fiscal year 2003 Transportation spending bill. 

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