1973 Kansas City to Chicago Expressway Study

In 1973, the Federal Highway Administration, with MoDOT taking the lead in cooperation with IaDOT and IDOT, completed a study looking at the feasibility of building an interstate between the nation's two busiest rail hubs.  Just glancing through it, one very interesting point I saw in the document on page 11 dealt with employment of the area and how in 1973, the trend of corporate farming was predicted.  Reviewing the public comments it was noted how this would have been good for the transition from family farming to industrial facilities in northern Missouri but the fine folks in St. Louis whined that they would lose out on the small cut of the Chicago to KC transportation economy.  You can read the full report here.  Download 1973KansasCitytoChicagoExpresswayReport

It was interesting to see what corridors Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois wanted to eventually upgrade to freeways and expressway.

Download 1973MissouriExpresswayMap

Download 1973IowaExpresswayMap

Download 1973IllinoisExpresswayMap

Too bad Illinois didn't build all these highways.  It would have made it easier for Illinois businesses to pick up and move to escape the high taxes (which are now being questioned why they nearly doubled taxes in the middle of a recession). Too bad they are now having to give away the farm to keep businesses in the state. 

I've always wondered, especially during California's woefully inept Gray Davis electricity brownout era, that the Kansas City metro region didn't do more to poach businesses from California.  Ditto now for Illinois, Ohio, or Michigan.  We are in the middle of the country with cheap electricity, lots of land, a well educated and adaptable workforce, affordable cost of living, professional sports, a world class performing arts center, and clean air.  Instead we fight over companies that play state line hopscotch every time their lease is up. 

 

Comments

[Doug Anderson]

In response to your comment about KC doing more to poach CA businesses. I think it would have been a wasted effort as likely the decision makers lived in CA and liked living there. Any effort that cost very little to no money I would have been fine with. But if KC had gone on a multi-million dollar spending spree to attract CA companies I would have flipped.

I do agree the state line hopping is completely ridiculous and unfortunately is likely to never change.