Missouri vehicle owners will be getting new red, white and blue license plates to commemorate the state’s upcoming bicentennial.
The new plates will be distributed as people renew their license plates over the next couple of years. The goal is to have them all in place before the state’s 200th anniversary in 2021.
The new design has a white background with dark blue letters and numbers. Missouri’s prominent rivers are represented by red wavy lines on top and blue wavy lines on bottom. The state seal is in the middle.
The new plates will replace the current “bluebird” models — featuring the state bird atop a hawthorn, the state floral emblem. Missouri’s nickname, the “Show-Me state” is also out in the new design.
The new plates cost the state about $17 million. That cost will be recouped by charging people extra fees of $3.36 for regular plates and $7.54 for personalized plates.
The state released possible bicentennial plate designstwo years ago and asked Missourians to vote on them, but the final plate is starkly different than any of those designs, which all featured a blue background.
Those designs were rejected by the Missouri Highway Patrol, which wanted white backgrounds to make plates easier for troopers to read. The patrol tested various plates and the design selected “offers the greatest readability of all plates tested for visibility during the day and nighttime hours,” the Department of Revenue said.
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