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Interstate 29 open again in Northwest Missouri

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Compiled with information from Missouri Department of Transportation

Interstate 29 reopened today to all traffic between Exit 56 and the Iowa state line. The roadway has been closed since late March for massive flooding.

According to MoDot, the closure on the Missouri side was extended, with the exception of local traffic accessing their homes and businesses, until the Iowa Department of Transportation was able to reopen its section of I-29 Wednesday morning.

There are possible delays approximately eight miles north of the Missouri border, where traffic moves head-to-head with a 12-foot width restriction in place. Loads larger than those dimensions must use an alternate route.

Many other routes throughout the region remain flooded, both in Missouri and Iowa. Travelers do not have access to several roads west of I-29 in Atchison and Holt counties due to flooding and damage. These include U.S. Routes 159 and 136, commonly referred to as the Rulo and Brownville Missouri River Crossings, which remain closed.

For updated information regarding route restoration and flooding, visit the Northwest Missouri Flooding webpage and interactive map.

Missouri flooding update: road outage list, governor warns of water dangers

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There are 104 roads closed because of flooding. Access the entire list here. Also check the MoDOT Traveler Information Map for road closures at traveler.modot.org/map.

MoDOT continues to work with Nebraska and Iowa to provide alternate routes while major roads are closed, including I-29 near Rock Port. Northbound I-29 traffic into Iowa is being detoured at I-35 in Kansas City, where travelers will continue north on I-35 into Iowa.

From Des Moines, travelers will drive west on I-80 and continue onto I-680 to connect back with I-29 near the Council Bluffs/Omaha metro area in Iowa.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has additional marine operations troopers and swift-water rescue equipment in northwest Missouri. The patrol conducted three swift water rescues in Holt County over the weekend and troopers are going house-to-house in Watson, Missouri, after the levee breach on the Nishnabotna River.

Rhonda Wiley, Emergency Management Coordinator for Atchison County says some people are not taking seriously the dangers of moving water. “Part of the problem is from people who are not from this area, that are rerouting through our area. Even though they have had to pass barricades, and pass detour signs. They just keep coming out to where they’re trying to find a way around to get to Nebraska, to get to Omaha.”

Governor Mike Parson urges Missourians to use caution around floodwater as Missouri River levels near cresting at major flood stage in some Missouri communities. Rain will move into the western part of the state tonight through Wednesday morning but is expected to have minimal effect on current river levels.

He cautioned that despite Missouri River crests this week, flooding will remain a hazard well into the spring because of a combination of additional melting now from the north and saturated ground.

According to a press release, the Missouri Emergency Management Agency assisted the city of St. Joseph with recruiting volunteers for sandbagging efforts with the coordination of AmeriCorps St. Louis, Missouri Adventist Community Services, Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief, and the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Inmates from the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center have been helping with sandbagging in the northeastern town of Clarksville along the Mississippi River.

In Holt County, a water treatment facility is shut down operations because of flooding. The Salvation Army has provided bottled water to the area.

The governor’s office warns that standing water can carry infectious diseases and hide other hazards, including road damage, glass, and sewage. Storm drains can create an extremely dangerous situation for anyone caught in the current. Avoid walking through floodwater and keep children from playing in it.

I-29 closed at Missouri/Iowa border due to flooding (MODOT detour instructions)

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The Missouri Department of Transportation has closed Interstate 29 at Rock Port (MM 110) at the Missouri/Iowa border due to flooding in Iowa.

Anyone wanting to use I-29 northbound should use I-35 and then I-80 into Iowa. For more information visit: https://www.modot.org/2019-northwest-missouri-flooding

Here are some important safety reminders:

  • Don’t drive through any flooded areas. A few extra minutes for a detour could lead to a life saved.
  • MoDOT reminds motorists it only takes six inches of water (or less!) to lose control of your vehicle and possibly be swept into rising floodwaters.
  • Any time there is water over the roadway, there may be unseen damage to the road surface below.
  • Stay alert and do not drive through water over a roadway or around construction barricades. MoDOT encourages all motorists to Turn Around! Don’t Drown!

More Information

Full closures of I-29 are in place at

US 136 at Rock Port, Mo. (Exit 110); and

Iowa 92 South of Council Bluffs, Iowa (Exit 48)

Those who would normally use I-29 as a through route should instead use

I-35 N from Kansas City to

I-80 West in Des Moines to

I-29 near the Council Bluffs/Omaha metro area

and vice-versa until further notice.

Travelers already on I-29 North

Drivers who are currently heading north on I-29 should use US 71 North north of St. Joseph to I-35 if possible.

Those north of the US 71 junction can continue to Rock Port and take US 136 East to US 71 North to I-35. DO NOT take US 275 North. Flooding in Hamburg, Iowa will block your progress.

 

Who burned Barrel Bob? MoDOT’s mascot back in the shop for repairs after fire prank

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Barrel Bob has seen better days (photo/MODOT)

Barrel Bob has seen better days (photo/MODOT)

Motorists might have noticed that Barrel Bob, the Missouri Department of Transportation’s 10-foot tall orange mascot who works to promote work zone safety, is missing from his post on U.S. Route 50/63 in Jefferson City.

Barrel Bob hasn’t been kidnapped (which has happened before), but it appears he may have been victimized by an act of early Halloween villainy. The friendly work zone safety mascot was set on fire Tuesday evening on Route 50/63. Bob was discovered slumped over on the ground, with severe burns on his legs and torso. One leg was completely melted and the other was damaged in the fire. Both legs will need to be replaced.

Bob was taken into the shop on Wednesday and is receiving intensive repair. The mascot is expected to be out of commission for at least the next two weeks.

Barrel Bob didn’t swear revenge, but he has vowed to return to his post and resume his job of spreading the important message of work zone safety as soon as he is able.

If you would like send Bob get well wishes, you can follow him on Facebook

Story courtesy: MoDOT

I-55, other roads could close with Christmas night SEMO blizzard

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The Transportation Department is discouraging travel in Southeast Missouri while a winter storm blows through the rest of tonight through tomorrow morning.

The National Weather Service is forecasting blizzard conditions in Southeast Missouri and parts of neighboring states that the Transportation Department says could close roads, including I-55. (Photo courtesy, National Weather Service.)

The National Weather Service is predicting blizzard conditions with that storm. State Maintenance Engineer Beth Wright says that would mean highways could be closed.

“We’re very concerned about I-55 with this storm. The Weather Service is forecasting somewhere between 7 and 9 inches of snow and that isn’t the largest issue. What we’re also hearing is we’ll have sustained winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour gusting up to 40 and that’s when people will see blizzard-like conditions, so that’s our greatest concern at this time.”

For the Department to make the decision to close a road, Wright says a storm must be making it difficult for snow plow drivers to see other traffic.

“They’re a larger vehicle, they’re higher, they generally have better visibility, so we know that when they have a difficult time seeing, that especially small passenger cars have a very difficult time seeing. That’s when it’s just best for none of us to be traveling on a roadway and we try to pull our folks off so that we’re safe and everyone else is safe, and then as the storm system dies down a bit and we have better visibility, then we get out.”

The Department is advising motorists to avoid traveling in southeast Missouri and has issued a No Travel advisory until condition simprove tomorrow.

Those who do atttempt to travel are advised to bring a mobile phone and winter survival supplies.

The Department offers a Traveler Information Map and the Highway Patrol offers an emergency phone number for people needing assistance, at (800) 525-5555 or *55 from a cellular phone.

Statewide exercise to prep MODOT workers for winter

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The Missouri Department of Transportation has completed the personnel changes that were a part of its Bolder 5-year Plan, including the reduction of more than 1,100 employees. On Wednesday the Department will hold a statewide drill to test its ability to respond to a winter storm.

MODOT snowplows will be out on Halloween, but there isn’t expected to be any snow. (Picture courtesy: Missouri Department of Transportation)

Special Projects Coordinator Bob Brendel says it’s a chance for maintenance workers who have recently been hired or have changed districts to get used to new surroundings and routes.

“We’ve changed our district boundaries. We’ve reduced facilities. We’ve reduced employees. We’ve moved new people into maintenance. So, this drill is just going to simulate a snowstorm and deployment of our plows and people around the state.”

Department representatives have maintained that it can handle even a storm on the scale of the 2011 blizzard with its reduced and reshuffled staff. Brendel says there is no doubt about that.  “We absolutely can. It’s just, our response is going to look a little different because we’re operating from fewer facilities. We may not get to some routes as quickly as we did before, but we will get to them.”

The staff won’t know how bad the storm being simulated is until the drill is underway.  “Part of the drill is activating our emergency operations centers, our communications system and then letting (maintenance staff) know what size storm is on the horizon.”

Brendel says Missourians shouldn’t be surprised by what they see on Wednesday.  “Recognize that there are going to be MODOT trucks out with plows on them and although they’re not going to be spreading salt or actually plowing anything, you still need to give them room when they’re out there on the highways.”

Crews in rural areas will deploy after 8 a.m. In urban areas the drill will begin after 9 a.m. It will take approximately six hours.

MoDOT wins praise for interchange design

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The design of a highway interchange in southwest Missouri has won the State Transportation Department acclaim from Popular Science magazine. Each year, the science and technology magazine picks what it considers to be “the 100 fastest, biggest, safest, greenest and most powerful innovations of the year.” Popular Science calls the concept behind the new intersection design in Springfield one of the best innovations of the year. [Read more…]