I-29 between the two I-680 exits N. of Council Bluffs is closing due to Missouri River flooding. There is likely to be more closures in the next several weeks. IA 2 between the river and I-29 is down to 1 lane EB, and local reports say it could close completely within the next week. There is a strong possibility that I-29 south of Council Bluffs will close as well.
Update: a levee near Hamburg, IA(just north of the Missouri border) has been breached and IADOT will close I-29 in the area in the next couple of days.
I-29 will be closing from IA 2(Exit 10) in Iowa to US 136(Exit 110) in Missouri at any time. They had planned to close the road earlier today, but floodwaters had not reached the area yet. However, Iowa DOT says they will not give further notice when the road actually closes and are advising motorists to plan alternate routes.
Are any preparations being made downstream (St. Joseph, Kansas City)?
I haven't heard anything about downstream. It will take awhile for the water to get that far downstream, so it will probably be a couple of weeks before we know how it will affect those areas.
Also, I-29 did close this afternoon in the area mentioned, and it is likely to be a long-term closure-possibly until the end of the summer.
I wonder what repairs the inundated Interstates will need when the floodwaters recede.
I 80 in Eastern Iowa went underwater a couple of years ago and I dont recall it needed much work .
I-55 went underwater in July 1996 around here and needed nothing, IIRC.
Iowa has detoured all I-29 through traffic onto I-35 now. There are "DETOUR I-29" assemblies along I-35 between Des Moines and Ames.
Iowa seems to do long detours a lot . Their 80 detour was 35 to 20 and down US 61.
Most traffic went IA 163/US 34 over to 74 and back to 80. Perhaps Iowa wants all 4 lane detours .
Just when 80 reopened the 34 bride was flooded out. It was that event the led the Army Corps to tell Illinois that 4 laning 34 meant building a new road 30 feet high and the 34 project became the Biggsville Bypass.
Like 80 and 55 there was no damage to 34 but some rail embankments needed reconstruction
I think they want all 4 lane detours to keep truck traffic off of 2 lane roads. I can say though that people in Omaha are not using I-80 and I-35 to get to Kansas City as that is much longer of a detour than is necessary.
Quote from: 3467 on June 18, 2011, 10:21:33 AM
Iowa seems to do long detours a lot . Their 80 detour was 35 to 20 and down US 61.
Most traffic went IA 163/US 34 over to 74 and back to 80. Perhaps Iowa wants all 4 lane detours .
Right, but in mid-2008 the Fairfield bypass was still under construction so trucks would have had to go through Fairfield. Then again, the I-35/US 20/US 61 detour involved a series of stoplights in Dubuque.
I remember it well 34 is 2 lanes in Illinois and the traffic was continous . Normall you will pass 2-6 cars in a mile and a couple of big trucks. I passed 30 cars and trucks in just one mile and no one could cross the road I never heard what it was like on the norther routes but clearly the trucking firms thought the north detour was too . I followed the traffic to Galesburg and very few took 34 to 80 . Most broke up on to I-74. Then 34 went down and it became empty. I recall 80 reopened and it was the 34 detour although Illinois used 2 lane 67 north to get there instead of I-74. Illinois stays too local Iowa is the opposite. I would add like Iowa no one used the official detour. The trucks stayed on 74.
Here are some videos I found on Youtube.
In addition to I-29, bridges on NE/IA 2, US 136 and US 159 have been closed due to flooding on the east side of the river.
Man, they've been having nasty flooding all up and down both the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers this year. Best wishes to everybody.
The only closure in Kansas due to Missouri River flooding thus far is K-7 from 5 miles south of White Cloud to the Nebraska border.
The recommended route for I-29 north to I-80 West is to take I-70 west to US 81 North.
KDOT has a bridge replacement project in progress on US 36 in Brown County with a 12 foot width restriction. Because of this, KDOT is recommending that traffic avoid US 36. Alternatively, KDOT suggests detouring the bridge project by taking US 73 south to K-20, then west to US 75 north. They also had a resurfacing project underway in Doniphan County; however, they have suspended the project due to the flooding related traffic.
I just got back today from a trip to Springfield/Branson, MO area that required me to detour between Lincoln and Kansas City. The recommended route locally from Lincoln to KC is US 77 to US 24 through Manhattan to K-177 and I-70. I never considered that as it is much more out of the way than is necessary. I took US 77 to K-9 and east to K-99 to I-70 on the way down last Thursday-avoiding the shorter route to Topeka on NE 2 and US 75 because NDOR is discouraging drivers from taking US 75, probably to avoid piling up too much traffic on US 75. I took US 75/NE 2 back today and there wasn't as much traffic on US 75 as I expected. The local word is starting to get out that US 75 is a better and quicker alternative than US 77, so the traffic might increase as the summer goes along.
I also noticed that the changeable message signs on I-435 approaching I-35 in Kansas mention the suggested I-35/I-80 long detour for I-29.
my friend Dan and I are planning on making a trip eastward on US-18 starting in South Dakota ... he needs to clinch Iowa so I've told him "you might need to swim!" but hopefully we can either cross on 18 and return on 20 and do some Nebraska exploration, or - less likely - cross on 20 and return on 30, which was our original plan.
we're keeping an eye on those flood gauges...
The Amelia Earhart bridge at Atchison Is now closed due to flooding on the Missouri side. K-7 is now closed at Sparks.
http://news.yahoo.com/flood-damage-key-iowa-highway-setback-engineers-003030873.html This is incredible... still closed until September+!!!
Damage of the kind described (scour, voids beneath pavement, etc.) was among the things I was wondering about almost two months ago when I-29 first closed.