By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Flooding in northwest Missouri could have a long-lasting negative impact on Missouri agriculture.

State Agriculture Director Chris Chinn says the broken levee system renders farms along the Missouri River vulnerable to further flooding this year and makes it difficult for farmers to decide to plant a crop this year, assuming their fields dry out.

“For some of those farmers they’re going to have to make preventative plans and chalk it up as a loss and hope that those levees get repaired so that next year, they’re able to plant a crop,” Chinn tells KFEQ Farm Director Melissa Gregory.

Missouri River flooding not only has wrecked planting season for many bottom ground farmers, it has wrecked roads and bridges throughout northwest Missouri, causing local residents to find ways around closed roads and bridges.

Chinn says just getting around becomes a challenge.

“But also, just the daily travel that they need to do to conduct the business on their farms and ranches,” Chinn says. “Having to go an extra 30 miles out of your way, one way to get to your destination, really adds up in the number of hours you spend away from your farm trying to conduct business in town.”

Chinn says she has been talking with quite a few farmers this spring.

“They’re all very anxious, because they feel like they’re behind where they should be. We’re in May and many guys have not even been able to get into the fields yet to work,” Chinn says. “Last year they had the drought situation and then we had a very wet fall again and a lot of crops were late to be harvested anyway. So, they just feel like they’re in this perpetual motion of playing catchup right now. It’s a frustrating, challenging time for our farmers and ranchers.”

 

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

A possible step toward renovating the nearly 5,000 vacant buildings in St. Joseph has passed the Missouri legislature.

The legislature has approved a bill which will allow the creation of the St. Joseph Land Bank.

State Rep. Shelia Solon of St. Joseph sponsors the legislation, House Bill 821, and says it can be used to buy run-down and abandoned properties to be sold to groups or individuals which agree to rehabilitate them.

“It’s a way to hopefully spur economic development, because when you have these vacant properties people don’t feel safe because we have vagrants getting in these homes, committing crimes, and we have fires every other weekend that have been set in these vacant buildings and it makes people feel very unsafe,” Solon tells St. Joseph Post.

St. Joseph has approximately 4,800 abandoned buildings. The city does not know the owners of 500 of them.

Solon says the 500 unclaimed buildings become the responsibility of the city.

“If these properties are dangerous or not mowed and not kept up, the upkeep of them, instead of being on the landowner or the homeowner, it turns to the taxpayers of our town and last year the taxpayers footed the bill for $300,000 for the upkeep of these homes,” according to Solon.

The St. Joseph Land Bank is modeled after similar organizations in Kansas City and St. Louis. The Land Bank can buy abandoned property and re-sale them to individuals or groups which promise to renovate them. If they cannot find a buyer, they can be put to public use.

State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville made changes necessary to get it through the Senate, then the revised version passed the House. This bill was a top legislative priority for the City of St. Joseph and the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce.

The measure now heads to the governor for his signature.

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Interstate 29, closed since widespread flooding heavily damaged the interstate in Iowa, has re-opened to traffic through northwest Missouri.

Repairs are ongoing in southwest Iowa, but enough has been done to re-open two lanes of I-29 between US Highway 34 and the Missouri border.

Iowa transportation official Scott Suhr says it took a lot of effort to return I-29 to a functional road.

“The contractor’s been in there working for the last several weeks and has made significant progress,” Suhr tells Radio Iowa. “It won’t be completely opened up to two lanes in each direction, motorists will experience some head to head situations — and also one lane through part of it.”

Suhr urges drivers to use caution.

The re-opening came much quicker than expected. Originally, it was projected that the interstate would re-open to traffic no earlier than the Memorial Day weekend.

The Iowa Department of Transportation has imposed lane restrictions and is not allowing anything wider than 20 feet on the newly re-opened portion of I-29.

Missouri transportation officials closed I-29 just north of St. Joseph after Iowa closed the interstate just north of the state line, because there was no adequate detour for traffic once motorists arrived at the state line.

It isn’t restored to normal, but it is passable, according to Suhr.

“The main thing is we are able to get some type of mobility restored from U-S 34 south to the Missouri line,” he says.

Iowa 2 from I-29 to Nebraska City remains closed due to flood damage.

Suhr says a number of contractors are making repairs throughout southwest Iowa, heavily damaged by Missouri River flooding.

Suhr says IDOT hopes to complete emergency highway repairs at the end of this month.

“Hopefully between now and Memorial Day weekend we will have everything opened up to some type of mobility.”

 

 

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

A surprise, and a pleasant one for northwest Missouri travelers, as the Missouri Department of Transportation re-opened Interstate 29 this morning after Iowa made sufficient repairs to allow for traffic there much earlier than expected.

Earlier projections pegged the re-opening closer to the Memorial Day weekend.

Missouri Department of Transportation Assistant Maintenance and Traffic Engineer Jennifer Sardigal says Iowa moved quicker than expected to make I-29 functional again.

“I-29 did re-open about 10 o’clock this morning,” Sardigal tells St. Joseph Post. “Iowa got their roadway open to head-to-head traffic on I-29. They did not open (Highway) 2, but they are open at (Highway) 34, so they are allowing traffic into Iowa. So we, as promised, followed along and opened I-29 so that everybody can get from St. Joe to Iowa.”

Missouri River flooding overflowed and heavily damaged I-29 in southwest Iowa, forcing the Iowa Department of Transportation to close the interstate south of the Council Bluffs/Omaha metro area. That action has a ripple effect, causing MoDOT to close the interstate to traffic just north of St. Joseph at Highway 71.

Four-lane interstate traffic will be squeezed into two lanes over a portion of I-29 in southwest Iowa while further repairs are being made. Wide loads will not be permitted to travel that intersection and will have to find an alternative route.

Sardigal acknowledges the re-opening came sooner than expected.

“It’s been in the works for a few days,” according to Sardigal. “They (IDOT) gave out a contract deadline of Memorial Day, but the contractor was able to get done sooner. So, as soon as the contractor was able to, we opened the road.”

The closing snarled traffic throughout the region, especially in eastern Kansas as trucks and cars traveled west across Highway 36 to take Route 75 or 77 into Nebraska. I-29 carries about 12,000 cars and trucks daily through northwest Missouri.

MoDOT had directed northbound traffic to take I-35 to I-80 in Iowa, then across to I-29. Highway 71 north of St. Joseph also served as an alternative route, but truck drivers and motorists appeared to prefer traveling Highway 36 into Kansas, then north on Route 75 to Nebraska, taking either Highway 2 into Lincoln or continuing on 75 to Omaha.

Though I-29 has re-opened, Highway 2 into Nebraska City remains closed.

Sardigal says MoDOT closed I-29 just north of St. Joseph at Highway 71 as the best alternative under the circumstances.

“We didn’t want to drop a bunch of traffic onto low-volume routes for safety reasons and we didn’t want to drop off a bunch of traffic into Iowa when they had nowhere to go.”

But, now, they do.

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Some farmers in northwest Missouri face the very real possibility of not planting a crop this year due to the flood.

Congressman Sam Graves, who lives near Tarkio, says he has heard from many farmers who still have fields under water and no prospect of getting a crop in the ground this year.

“You have no income. There will be no income for folks that are farming along the river,” Graves tells Barry Birr, host of the KFEQ Hotline. “They can’t put a crop in. So, okay, you erase a year’s worth of income. What do you do? You want to talk about stress and frustration, that’s what you hear.”

The prospect of no crop and, thus, no income this year grows more realistic as rain comes down and floodwaters fail to recede. Fields ruined by the flood are not likely to drain and dry out in time for planting.

Graves says older farmers likely have banked enough savings to survive the year.

“But, a lot of younger farmers, they aren’t in that position and the fact of the matter is the machinery payments continue, the farm payments continue, the house payment continues regardless of whether or not you have income or not and that puts people in a real bind when you’re dealing with that, so yeah, it could put people under,” according to Graves.

A disaster aid package continues to work its way through Congress. Whether it will be enough to offset the losses from this year’s flood remains to be seen. Graves does note that the package likely will contain some money to compensate for the loss of stored grain, ruined when floodwaters surrounded, then collapsed grain bins in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

I-29 north of St. Joseph remains closed and likely will remain closed for quite some time.

Missouri Department of Transportation Area Engineer Adam Watson says Missouri closed the interstate at Highway 71, because there was nowhere for the heavy traffic I-29 carries to go once it reached the state line. Watson says Iowa transportation officials are working hard to repair the damage done by floodwaters.

“They were anticipating that by Memorial Day or quicker they would be able to open up I-29 into Iowa in which case we would open up I-29 completely, because there would be somewhere to go through to,” Watson tells St. Joseph Post.

Missouri is working to repair damage leading to the two bridges across the Missouri River into Nebraska. Watson says if Iowa cannot get repairs to I-29 done as quickly as they hope, those bridges into Nebraska would allow Missouri to re-open at least a portion of the interstate.

I-29 carries approximately 12,000 cars and trucks daily, with an emphasis on trucks. Heavy semi tractor-trailers use I-29 as their primary north-south route in the Midwest. With I-29 closed in northwest Missouri and southeast Iowa, those trucks have been diverted to other highways.

MoDOT advises travelers wishing to go north to use I-35 to I-80, back across to I-29 or at least take U.S. Highway 71 just north of St. Joseph. MoDOT has closed I-29 at the Highway 71 intersection.

But, truck drivers have taken a number of different routes and large trucks hauling rock and other material used to repair flood-damaged roads are traveling throughout northwest Missouri as well as northeast Kansas.

Watson gives a short answer to the question of whether MoDOT worries diverted interstate traffic is damaging other roadways.

“We’re not worried about it. We know that it is.”

Watson says it is hard to quantify how much damage has been done to other roads by traffic normally traveling I-29.

“We’ve already seen routes that we were intending to do a preventative maintenance treatment on, something to seal cracks to keep it going for a couple more years before we do a more serious rehabilitation,” Watson says. “We’ve already seen roads where we’ve said, yeah, that preventative maintenance treatment is not even an option any more, we are well into rehabilitation or rebuilding parts of these roads.”

Watson says Iowa transportation officials hope to repair I-29 in time for Memorial Day weekend traffic.

MoDOT maintains a website on the flood damage in northwest Missouri, you can access it by clicking here.