A project to improve an intersection outside New Franklin will now take place in 2026, as the Missouri Department of Transportation will bundle it with two other projects in Howard County going out to bid this fall.

MoDOT announced Thursday afternoon that the project to reconfigure the current intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Missouri Route 5 south of New Franklin will not take place this summer, after bids for the improvements came in over budget. The intersection, which will become a standard T-intersection with turn lanes, will go back to bid in October as part of a bundle that includes a project to rehabilitate the nearby bridge over Sulphur Creek, and the resurfacing of Routes 124, BB and CC. MoDOT and the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission notes that bundling the three projects should result in securing the best value and product for taxpayers.