By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Interstate 29 has reopened.
Flooding in southwest Iowa caused I-29 to close twice this year. Once, the Missouri Department of Transportation reopened it briefly, only to close it again when the Iowa Department of Transportation closed the interstate just across the Missouri-Iowa state line.
MoDOT reports it reopened I-29 after Iowa transportation officials reopened it in southwest Iowa. Traffic might narrow to one lane in some locations between St. Joseph and I-80 at Council Bluffs in Iowa. MoDOT says both it and the Iowa Department of Transportation will work diligently to keep I-29 open as well as work to reopen other routes caused by flooding in mid-March and late May.
Missouri closed I-29 to through traffic at U.S. 71 north of St. Joseph so traffic could be redirected away from the flooded interstate in Iowa. Missouri River flooding first closed the interstate in March. It reopened only to be closed again when renewed flooding swamped southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri in late May.
In fact, MoDOT reopened its portion of I-29 May 29th, but had to reclose the interstate to through traffic only hours later when flooding again closed I-29 in Iowa.
MoDOT suggested interstate commerce take U.S. 71 into Iowa or divert to I-35, but many truckers opted to travel U.S. 36 into northeast Kansas, then take U.S. 75 into Nebraska as an alternative route, clogging those two-lane roads for much of the spring.
Click here for up-to-date information on the flood impact in northwest Missouri.