CONGRESSMAN MIKE BOST SUPPORT LETTER Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Congressman Mike Bost Voices Support for Completing Future Interstate 66 Through Southern Illinois Letter arrives as Congress weighs surface transportation reauthorization.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI — SEPTEMBER 4, 2026

TransAmerica Corridor, Inc. (TAC), the nonprofit leading the effort to complete and extend the congressionally authorized Future Interstate 66 corridor, announced today that it has received a letter of support from Congressman Mike Bost of Illinois’ 12th District, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee.

The letter affirms that Future I-66 builds upon an existing congressional designation: High Priority Corridor 3 under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-59). Rather than seeking a new designation for this segment of the route, TAC’s mission is to complete and extend that authorized route, which spans roughly 2,300 miles and twelve states.

TAC also recently received a letter of support from Congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky, Dean of the House and Appropriations Chairman Emeritus, underscoring growing congressional interest in the corridor along its route.

Illinois: Congressman Mike Bost

In a September 3, 2026 letter, Bost expressed support for a Southern Illinois segment of the corridor running through Alexander, Union, Pulaski, Johnson, and Massac counties, with the City of Metropolis serving as a logical eastern terminus. He cited the newly formed I-66 Work Group’s identified route from I-24 at Metropolis to I-55 at Cape Girardeau, continuing along US-60 through Van Buren to Springfield, Missouri, and noted that the Illinois Department of Transportation’s District 9 has confirmed its support for pursuing the designation.

This routing builds on nearly a decade of technical planning. A 2015 logical termini analysis prepared for IDOT District 9 identified I-24 at Paducah/Metropolis and I-55 at Cape Girardeau as the corridor’s logical termini, consistent with the corridor’s legislative history under ISTEA and the 1995 National Highway System Designation Act. TAC notes that a shared I-24/Future I-66 designation across this Ohio River crossing, connecting into Illinois and on to Cape Girardeau via I-55, would be consistent with how the corridor already operates elsewhere. For example, the concurrent I-365/Future I-66 designation in Kentucky, where both routes share pavement (double-badged).

In his letter, Bost wrote that the corridor would strengthen freight mobility, supply-chain resilience, and economic competitiveness throughout the region, and would improve access to the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, which he called “the only seismically resilient Mississippi River crossing between St. Louis, MO and Memphis, TN.” “I look forward to working with state and federal partners to advance the continuation and extension of the future Interstate 66,” Bost wrote, “and ensure that Southern Illinois is best positioned to benefit from this critical transportation corridor.”

Robert Spurlock, the President & Executive Director of TransAmerica Corridor, Inc., says, “Congressman Mike Bost’s letter of support is perfect timing as we march toward the surface transportation reauthorization. The support of I-66 into southern Illinois is actually a statutory requirement set by Congress in 1995, and the logical termini are the largest two cities. These are Paducah/Metropolis and Cape Girardeau. With I-66 coming to Cape Girardeau and I-57 to the south, what you will have in the future is what TransAmerica Corridor, Inc. is calling the Southeast Missouri Regional Beltway. In that scenario, P&G, Unilever, Briggs & Stratton can all have trucks on a north-south or east-west interstate highway quickly. That is a gigantic step forward in terms of regional economic development. The I-66 Corridor will also provide enormous benefit to farmers and agriculture throughout Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.”

Building Momentum Ahead of Reauthorization

Bost’s letter arrives as Congress continues work on reauthorizing the nation’s surface transportation program. TAC and its coalition partners in the Congressionally Authorized Future Interstates (CAFI) Coalition are pressing for a dedicated multi-state Future Interstate Highway Formula Funding Program in the Senate companion to the BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870), which passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee in May 2026.