Hooker’s Cut

Completion of Hooker Cut by the Fred Weber Construction Company of St. Louis, a bypass designed to accommodate a four lane highway alignment necessitated by the expansive construction at Fort Leonard Wood, and the dramatic increase in traffic between 1939 and 1943. At the time of completion in 1943, the ninety foot deep cut was the largest of its kind in the United States. It bypassed the sharp curves and narrow 1923 steel truss bridge that spanned the Big Piney River. This was the first and last four lane segment of Route 66 in Missouri.