SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Business owners have high hopes for a new roadway in south Springfield.
Construction on the Kansas extension was set to begin today.

Drivers and business owners have been waiting since the 1980s for this project to start.

Right now it ends at Republic Road. It will head south a few miles into the county.

Greene County, the city of Springfield, and MoDOT are beginning work that could bring new business to the area.

It has been on the books for so long, businesses wondered if they’d ever see it happen.

“(I) probably still believe that way,” Beth Perry of Beth’s Bake Shop and Tea Room said. “(I’ll) believe it when I see it.”

But construction on Kansas Expressway Extension is now official, Greene County says. The project will push the road from its current end at Republic Road south about three miles toward the Greene-Christian County line.

“Any expansion is a good thing,” Perry said. “I think any traffic flow will help because traffic is pretty heavy around Springfield.”

“We have a lot of our clientele that is from the Nixa and Republic area,” Alicia Vandever of All Pet Supplies said. “So absolutely. it would be another avenue for them to get to this side of town.”

Businesses are looking forward to what it means for them, their employees, and customers – a quicker way to and from the south side, and an alternative to all the traffic from Campbell Avenue.

“I think a lot of people in this area are used to it unfortunately because we have dealt with it for so many years,” Vandever said.

Preliminary work has started. Construction will ramp up quickly, something business owners are ready to handle.

It is something we have dealt with before when they were widening Republic Road here a few years ago, it is something we have dealt with in the past and we will deal with it again and make the best of what we can,” Vandever said.

“I am pretty even keel with it, so I just say go with the flow,” Perry said.

It’s being called a Kansas Expressway extension, but it won’t exactly be an expressway. At first, it will only be two lanes. The other two lanes would come later.

The first phase will be Republic Road to Plainview Road and be done by November 1, 2023.

The second phase – Plainview Road to Farm Road 190 – will be done spring of 2025.