The Shape of Things to Come

This blueprint shows the original routes for all of Missouri's interstates. And that's pretty much where they landed.

Like Woodstock, Except Without the Music

The I-55 interstate dedication down in the Bootheel drew a good sized crowd.

The New Gateway to the West

You could still get your kicks on Route 66. But you'd get even more on I-44.  After all, it had four lanes...

"Does that look straight to you?"

An engineer stands on an overpass crossing I-70 making sure his lines are plumb.

Easy Trigger...

No, it's not Roy Rogers, but this horseman was a part of the celebration when I-29 opened for traffic.

How Many Highway Employees Does it Take to Screw in a Light Bulb?

Just one...but he's got to have a nifty ladder truck like this one. This photo was taken on I-44 before it opened.

Square One

Six of the people involved in one of the nation's first interstate projects on Interstate 70 in St. Charles pose at the project site in 1956. Pictured from left to right are Dan Cane, superintendent, Cameron, Joyce & Company; Chick Sayles, salesman, Alpha Portland Cement; John Latham, District 6 engineer; Charles Tevis, District 6 assistant chief engineer; and Jack and Tinch Gammon, brothers who owned Cameron, Joyce & Company, the contractor on the project.

That's Really What It Looks Like!

MoDOT photographer Cathy Morrison took this photo of the full moon over Bartle Hall and Interstates 70 and 35 in Kansas City in 2001. Her photo recently won an award in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Celebrate the Interstate photo contest and was chosen to grace the cover of AASHTO’s Celebrate the Interstate 1956-2006 calendar.

Not as Crowded as It is Today

Believe it or not that empty stretch of road is Interstate 70 right after its opening. The picture probably captures the last moment the interstate wasn't packed with cars and trucks.