Missouri Truck Dispatch: Kansas City, St. Louis and I-70

Missouri has two big freight cities at opposite ends of I-70: Kansas City on the west and St. Louis on the east. Between them, and down I-44 toward Oklahoma and Texas, the state links the Midwest with the Southwest and the South. For owner-operators, Missouri is a place you pass through often and reload in easily.

The state's truck freight leans slightly inbound. In 2022, about 83 million tons came into Missouri by truck from other states and about 76 million left. Kansas and Illinois were the biggest partners both ways, which makes sense: half of each big Missouri metro sits across the state line.

Kansas City and St. Louis

Kansas City is also a stop on the rail line to Mexico, so some freight that crosses the border by train comes off at Kansas City and moves on by truck.

What Missouri ships

From FAF6, the biggest van, reefer and flatbed-type freight leaving Missouri origins by truck in 2022 was nonmetal mineral products (about 27 million tons), then a group of farm and food freight:

• Cereal grains: about 18 million tons, mostly in grain trailers.
• Other foodstuffs: about 17 million tons.
• Mixed freight: about 14 million tons from distribution centers.
• Other agricultural products: about 13 million tons.
• Motorized vehicles and parts: about 7 million tons, from assembly plants near both big metros.

Missouri trucks deliver most to Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Iowa, and receive most from Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Lanes through Missouri

• I-70 is the state's main street, about 250 miles between Kansas City and St. Louis. It's busy and short of truck parking at night.
• I-44 runs from St. Louis through Springfield and Joplin to Oklahoma, the main route toward Texas.
• I-35 heads south from Kansas City into Kansas and Oklahoma, and north toward Des Moines.
• I-55 runs south from St. Louis along the Mississippi toward Memphis.

Both big metros reload well in most directions. The Ozarks and the Bootheel in the south are slower, with longer runs between loads. Springfield is the best reload point in southern Missouri.

Missouri freight by the numbers

Tonnage from the BTS Freight Analysis Framework (FAF6, base year 2022). Diesel tax from the IFTA, Inc. rate matrix.

Trailers that fit Missouri freight

A Kansas City van week through Texas and Oklahoma

Here's how a dispatcher might use Missouri's crossroads position for a dry van based in Kansas City.

An example of how a week can be planned, not a promise of loads, rates or miles. Distances are rounded.

Floods, ice and the harvest

• Spring: Planting season and severe storms, with flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in wet years.
• Summer: Steady freight, with heat on long I-44 runs.
• Fall: Harvest and the holiday retail build in both metros.
• Winter: Ice storms can shut I-70 and I-44 for hours. Snow is lighter than farther north.

River floods and ice storms are Missouri's big disruptions. The seasonal freight calendar covers the freight peaks.

Missouri rules to know

• Intrastate authority. For-hire carriers hauling property wholly inside Missouri need intrastate operating authority from MoDOT, which takes a USDOT number, an application through MoDOT Carrier Express and an insurance filing, as the MoDOT intrastate authority page explains.
• Fuel tax. Missouri's diesel rate is 29.5 cents a gallon on the IFTA matrix for the 4th quarter of 2026, lower than Illinois next door. The IFTA calculator uses it.
• Truck parking. Parking along I-70 fills early in the evening. Plan your stop before you're out of hours.

Missouri checklist: parking, state lines and river floods

• Plan parking on I-70 early in the evening, before lots fill.
• On Kansas City pickups, confirm whether the warehouse is on the Missouri or Kansas side.
• Use Missouri's lower diesel tax in your planning, but remember IFTA taxes miles where you drive them.
• Check river flood conditions in wet springs before routing along the Missouri or Mississippi.
• On deliveries into the Ozarks or the Bootheel, line up the reload from Springfield, St. Louis or Memphis first.

Dispatch in Missouri with us

Missouri has two freight cities that each straddle a state line. Your dispatcher searches both sides, Kansas and Illinois included, and uses I-44 and I-35 to connect a Kansas City or St. Louis load with Texas and Oklahoma freight. Parking along I-70 fills early, so the stop for your 10-hour break is planned too.

Around Missouri, see Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Iowa.