HANNIBAL â Transportation officials and economic developers are urging the Missouri Department of Transportation to take a fresh look at building the Hannibal expressway that has been sought for nearly 40 years.
MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna, recently got letters of support for a $500,000 engineering study of an expressway around the western edge of Hannibal. The bypass would speed travel along U.S. 61/the Avenue of the Saints, while lowering the congestion caused by through traffic and large trucks that now must travel along Hannibal streets.
âWhen you look at the fact that the only stoplights from St. Paul to St. Louis along the Avenue of the Saints are the seven in downtown Hannibal, it only makes sense,â said Great River Economic Development Foundation President Marcel Wagner.