Interstate 70 I-70 Missouri

Well, I didn’t expect to be giving Missouri Interstate 70/​I-​70 three stars… I was thinking it would be 2 stars at best. It should be 2 ½ stars, but I’m rounding up, because it does seem like Missouri is trying to improve their portion of the highway! With new tires on my car, the road seemed smoother than ever. By going slightly over the speed limit with no stops, I made the trip in almost an hour less than Google Maps, TeleNav and Mapquest gave me.
Like semi-​trucks/​freight trucks? Well, then THIS is the place for you, at least eastbound on Tuesdays! After reaching the far outlying areas of Kansas City metro, I expected the traffic to ease off. Wrong. At least 40% of the traffic this day was big trucks. EEEKS! Thankfully, it is a four lane highway (2 each way). This trip was unique for me in that I was in the passing/​left/​fast lane for over 75% of the trip between KC to the suburbs of St. Louis. The truck traffic combined with the hills made you reconsider whether or not you wanted to pull into the right lane behind a truck with a hill coming up shortly. Most trucks seem to stick to around the 70 MPH speed limit on the downhill and flat parts of I-​70, but the hills caused them to slow down quite a bit. It was really annoying when those trucks decided to pass another truck while going up a hill… I wonder if that was their way of having fun at the expense of us in cars. ;) I would have loved just to set my cruise control at 70 MPH or so, and avoid the whole passing/​traffic thing, but with so many trucks and hills, that made it impossible. Once you moved in to the right lane, and got behind a truck, let alone between two trucks, the line passing you was almost constant, and getting back OUT from between them was difficult.
Columbia is the busiest, most congested city that you travel through, and the speed limit drops to 55MPH, and I’d pay close attention to that one.
It mattered not if I was going 70 or 80 MPH. I was still getting passed. Those same cars that passed me would sometimes be found then going under the speed limit just a short while later… you know why… texting, or even talking on the phone (ear buds with a microphone can be found at TJ Maxx for under $ 10 and actually work very well, and cause less distraction! FYI!). If you try to leave a cushion between you and the car in front of you, especially while passing in the left lane, some idiot will often dangerously weave in front of you, narrowly missing the semi’s rear bumper, and almost clipping your front one. While much of the drive is very pretty, with lots of trees, hills and a river and bridge, it could be frustrating at times. It made me appreciate even more the peaceful (albeit boring) Kansas drive!
The return trip from STL to KC was a little better, with less truck traffic.
I did observe a number of highway patrol officers doing their jobs, whether it was helping a stranded motorist, removing debris from the highway, or even one or two giving tickets. I liked not having a highway sign every 2 miles advertising just how much further it was to KC… that can make a long trip seem even longer! Plus, just glance at the mile markers when westbound and it gives you a perfect account of how many more miles until the state line.