Editing Interstate 72 (section)

===Chicago–Kansas City Expressway===
The concept of I-72 across [[Missouri]] was to create the [[Chicago–Kansas City Expressway]], a rural four-lane highway across northern Missouri and west central [[Illinois]] from [[Cameron, Missouri]], at [[Interstate 35 in Missouri|I-35]] to [[Springfield, Illinois]], at [[Interstate 55 in Missouri|I-55]]. This would provide a series of rural four-lane highways (I-35, US&nbsp;36, I-72, and I-55) connecting Chicago to the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) Corridor ([[High Priority Corridor]] 23). This would reduce the amount of through traffic, primarily truck traffic, in the [[Greater St. Louis|St. Louis]], [[Des Moines metropolitan area|Des Moines]], and [[Quad Cities]] metropolitan areas by serving as an alternate route for [[Interstate 70 in Missouri|I-70]] and [[Interstate 80 in Iowa|I-80]]. The Missouri portion of this route is designated as part of [[High Priority Corridor]] 61.

Based on the {{convert|157|mi|km|adj=on}} marker at Route&nbsp;79, if/when [[U.S. Route 36 (Missouri)|US&nbsp;36]] is upgraded to [[Interstate standards]] across Missouri, the future western terminus of I-72 would be at Cameron at the intersection with I-35. Currently, the west end of I-72 route is west of [[U.S. Route 61 in Missouri|US&nbsp;61]] and flows concurrent with US&nbsp;36 into Illinois. In 2004, US&nbsp;36 was upgraded to a four-lane expressway between US&nbsp;61 and [[U.S. Route 24 in Missouri|US&nbsp;24]] at the Rocket Junction ({{Convert|7|mi|km|spell=in}}). There are three exits along this expressway: Veterans Road, Shinn Lane (Hannibal Regional Hospital), and US&nbsp;24 east at the Rocket Junction. Also, an interchange with [[Missouri Route 15|Route&nbsp;15]] was installed in [[Shelbina, Missouri|Shelbina]].

Due to funding priorities, upgrading US&nbsp;36 between [[Macon, Missouri|Macon]] and [[Hannibal, Missouri|Hannibal]] was a low-priority project and was shelved. The [[Missouri Department of Transportation]] (MoDOT) committed to constructing the four-lane highway as an at-grade expressway only if the five counties served by US&nbsp;36 east of Macon would contribute half of the $100 million (equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|100000000|2010}}}} in {{Inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|index=US-GDP}}) cost. Road construction to complete the {{convert|52.4|mi|km}} between Hannibal and Macon began in 2007. In August 2010, the four-lane expressway was completed from Macon to Hannibal, completing Missouri's portion of the Chicago–Kansas City Expressway.<ref name=three>{{cite press release |author= North Central District |year=2007 |title=U.S. 36 4-Laning Project: Contract Awarded for Route 36 Four-lane Project from Shelbina to Macon |publisher=Missouri Department of Transportation}}{{full|date=June 2023}}</ref>