In the U.S. state of Missouri, U.S. Route 36 is an expressway that provides access between Kansas and Illinois.

U.S. Route 36 runs from the Pony Express Bridges in St. Joseph to the western terminus for Interstate 72 which begins in Hannibal, MO. After leaving the Missouri River valley U.S. 36 then links major cities in Northern Missouri with Kansas City and cities in the east. For example if you were driving west from Hannibal you would pass through (Monroe City, Shelbina, Macon, Brookfield, Chillicothe, Hamilton, and Cameron) which are good points of business. The route through Missouri is majorly flat and somewhat tedious. Travel time from Hannibal in the east to St. Joseph in the west is roughly 2 1/2 hours compared to the 3 hour trip before the 10 Year Project. Even though there are ground highway connections U.S. 36 has many interchanges, underpasses, and overpasses that resemble a future interstate status OR extension to Interstate 72 in Hannibal, MO.

The route before 2010 was mainly a two lane highway that was used as a shortcut from U.S. 24 which ran diagonal toward Kansas City. Since U.S. 36 was seeing major traffic MoDOT contracted a 10 year plan which led to the complete conversion to 4 lanes. In 2006 the route was four lane from St. Joseph to about 10 miles east, Cameron, MO to Chillicothe, MO, and then only some intermittent sections near Macon, MO. In 2008 U.S. 36 was 4 lane continuously from St. Joseph to Macon where it changed to a 2 lane highway to a point outside Monroe City, MO. Finally in June 2010 the route was finally completed and the stretches between Macon and Monroe City were completed and the travel time across the state was slashed in half due to the new absence of the 2 lane/4 lane conversion points where speed changed.