Missouri River flooding in Iowa and Missouri affecting I-29

The exact up-to-the-minute closures in Missouri are difficult to determine inasmuch as their DOT website is not following mouse commands to zoom in and out properly, but Iowa's "511" site seems up to date now. Bottom line:

Long segments of I-29 in the northwest corner of MO and the southwest corner of IA are currently affected by Missouri River flooding, including the entire segment between IA-2 (leading to NE-2, the shortcut to Lincoln, NE) and US 136 at Rock Port, MO, where Iowa DOT says closure will occur at any time, without further advance notice. Iowa now lists a number of segments of I-29 south from Council Bluffs to the Missouri line as closed in both directions as well as the I-680 crossing north of Omaha, where westbounders on I-80 bound for I-90 west would normally slant northwest. Iowa's website shows a detour for I-29 north traffic bound for I-80 and I-90 to take I-35 north out of Kansas City, MO to Des Moines, IA, where I-80 westbounders are directed to I-480 crossing to Omaha, NE, and I-90 westbounders are directed to remain on I-35 to Albert Lea, MN (!) reaching I-90 there and turning west, thereby avoiding crossing the Mighty Mo and avoiding its eastern shore floodplain entirely until Chamberlain, SD, where a high bridge carries I-90 over it.

This makes crossing at Kansas City, St Joseph, and possibly other MO to KS or MO to NE bridges of interest rather than the lengthy detours. That is, if the other crossings are elevated well above the floodplain, which is not the case in the southwest corner of Iowa. I'm working on what the alternatives may be, if any, for crossings between I-480 at Omaha and I-70

Foy

According to the Iowa DOT, I-29 is now closed between Iowa exit 10 (where Iowa Route 2, the shortcut connecting to Nebraska Route 2 intersects I-29) to Missouri exit 110 (US 136 at Rock Port, IA).

Just west of Rock Port, US 136 crosses the Missouri River via the Brownville Bridge, which had previously been restricted to one lane due to construction/repairs. Kansas City news sources say "expect big delays" at US 136. It is not clear if the expected crest is likely to close US 136 at some point.

Iowa DOT's notice goes on to say "this is expected to be a long-term Interstate closure".

Video clips from Omaha and Kansas City television stations show the large travel plazas at the IA-2/I-29 interchange with large earthen berms surrounding the buildings, the fuel pumps removed, and notes the businesses are "closed for the summer".

Reckon it's "Kansas City, here we come" for Southeast to Northwest Road Trippers, at least for a while.

Foy

Looks like people should plan on I-70 to Denver, then I-25 to get to I-80 or I-90.

Another report on the floods and how they are causing problems with state routes:

Donna

We have a report now that says there are no open bridges across the river between Omaha and St. Joseph MO, and that I-29 will probably be closed till mid-August.

Essentially, you aren't going to be able to travel between KC, Omaha, and Sioux Falls (between I-70 and I-90) without significant detours. Plan your summer trips accordingly, the "official" I-29 through detour is I-35.

That sounds like a never-ending source of frustration for the Highway Patrol and others in the area.

Mark

Which is the best way to go from St. Louis to Omaha with all the current flooding and heavy traffic? Should I take 63 North to I80 ot 65 North to I80 over to Omaha?

Need to travel between Des Moines and the Black Hills next week. Is our best bet to take I-35 into MN to I-90? Anyone know if I-90 is closed at all near the intersection with I-29?

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Originally Posted by Omaha-Bound

Which is the best way to go from St. Louis to Omaha with all the current flooding and heavy traffic? Should I take 63 North to I80 ot 65 North to I80 over to Omaha?

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I-29 is open between KC and St. Joe - then you can take US-71 to IA-92 to Council Bluffs, take the I-80 bridge over the river.

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Originally Posted by mramsey

Need to travel between Des Moines and the Black Hills next week. Is our best bet to take I-35 into MN to I-90? Anyone know if I-90 is closed at all near the intersection with I-29?

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That's your best bet, and I-90 is fully open.

I am traveling to the Omaha Airport from Sioux Falls, SD on Friday, July 1st. What would be the best route to take?

I appreciate the help!

It appears that the I-29 closures now start just south of I-680 making travel from SD into Omaha rather difficult.

Nebraska's DOT is also recommending that people avoid US-75 due to both construction and flooding.

From how I read the closures here are your options:

The Omaha Airport is recommending you take I-29 to US-30 (Missouri Valley, IA) and then NE-133 into Omaha.

I think your best bet, however, might be to stay as far away from the River as you can, and take US-77 south from Sioux City to US-275 at Fremont to US-6 into Omaha. The biggest downside is that that brings you into the west side of Omaha, and you'll have to get across town to get to the airport.

The third option, which would be about 20 miles longer than the others, would be to head East on I-680 (towards Des Moines) until you reach I-80, and then double back on I-80 West back into Omaha.

An update: While the US-30 bridge remains open right now, it looks like it will be the next road to close. Iowa DOT says a levee has broken in the area, and water is rising quickly which could force the closure of US-30 at any time.

I'd say US-77 looks to be your best bet.

I-29 is becoming not an option around Sioux City too, there's already some ramps closed. Best thing to do is just stay away from the river, period.

I'd recommend you get off I-29 at SD-46 and take that west to US-81. Take that south to Norfolk NE then take US-275 to Omaha. Allow 6 hours for the trip, sorry about that.

There is one off ramp closure in Sioux City, but that doesn't impact the bridge crossings via US-77 or I-129 (although construction is causing a minor detour on I-129).

IDOT isn't expecting Flooding to cause major road problems around Sioux City, so detouring all the way over to Yankton, or even Vermillion to cross the river, seems like a pretty extreme and unnecessary step at this time.

Certainly, you will have to continue to keep an eye on things, and there are more problems farther north, as a new section of Northbound I-29 is now closed north of Missouri Valley.

IDOT does now have a call center for flood routing advice that's open from 7am to 9pm: 866-452-8510. Make sure to give them a call before you go.

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Originally Posted by glc

I-29 is open between KC and St. Joe - then you can take US-71 to IA-92 to Council Bluffs, take the I-80 bridge over the river.

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Greetings - I'm leaving St Louis for Omaha tomorrow..... is this the most viable route? Any updates? Many thanks

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Simply put, there will be no easy/simple way to make this trip. With the I-29 closure, every option is going to be adding a significant number of miles and/or involve some significant stretches of travel along 2 lane roads.

Sticking to freeways your best bet will be the posted detour, which takes you on I-35 all the way from KC to Des Moines before heading back to Omaha. That's a 550 mile trip which adds well over 100 miles to the typical route.

Another option you might consider would be to take US-61 and MO/IA-27 to Iowa City and go across I-80 from there, which is about 50 miles shorter, but involves a good chunk of 2 lane roads.

Otherwise, you're looking at detouring off where I-29 closes at St. Joe. From there you could either take US-71 North to I-80 or you could head west on US-36 and later turn north (keeping in mind that US-75 is not recommended either). The problem with any of these options is that there are a lot of extra people using these routes that simply aren't designed for Interstate levels of traffic, leading to the potential for some major traffic delays.

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Originally Posted by Brad

Greetings - I'm leaving St Louis for Omaha tomorrow..... is this the most viable route? Any updates? Many thanks

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In my opinion, yes. It only adds about 35 miles to the trip, and US-71/IA-92 are good roads.

Im trying to get from Central Tx to East Grand Forks. We've always gone up I29 once leaving I35 in Kansas. Now it seems we may have to travel up 81? Blech, it's slow going that way, but I guess with all the other problems with the flooding, it is going to have to be the only way up.

Ive tried to get onto the sites that explain detours, other routes etc, but it's SO confusing!

Your best bet is get on I-135 in Wichita and take that to Salina, then US-81 to I-90 back to I-29.

Hi there, I need to get from KC to Omaha on Tuesday morning. Is there a suggested 'best quickest' way and about how long will that drive be? Thanks for the help!!

Rosanna

I-29 north to St. Joe, US-71 north to US-34 west back to I-29, cross the river on the I-80 bridge (if more convenient, I-480 is still open). You should be able to do it quicker, but I'd allow 5 hours.

thanks! :D

the trip took about 3.5 hours at a fairly lively pace, thanks again for the help! it was a successful trip. cheers.

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Originally Posted by glc

I-29 north to St. Joe, US-71 north to US-34 west back to I-29, cross the river on the I-80 bridge (if more convenient, I-480 is still open). You should be able to do it quicker, but I'd allow 5 hours.

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Thank you for your feedback! Would you say that someone driving "normally" could make it in 4 hours?

yes, i think a normal drive would be ~4 hours and not much more. Even on the 2 lane highways, there are several short passing lane areas so you don't need to stay stuck too long behind slower traffic/trucks.

Making this trip on Saturday and looking for some advice on best way to tackle the closures on I-29. I've seen previous posts about taking 71 North out of St. Joe then 34 West in Iowa, but are there additional closures north of Omaha to worry about? Is the best bet at this point to stick to the interstate as long as possible and then follow posted detours? Appreciate any advice folks who've tackled a similar trip can provide.

wendellgee

Stay on US-71 to I-80, then take that to I-680 to get back to I-29.

Another option that just became available - take I-29 to Craig MO, then US-59 to I-80. US-59 was closed at Craig but it now appears to be open.

Any current ( 7/22) info on 136 at Brownville Bridge crossing to Auburn NE?

136 is closed from I-29 to Brownville, and this appears to be a long-term closure.

If you go to safetravelusa.com you have links to current conditions in all states. There is NOTHING open across the river between US-36 in St. Joe and US-34 just south of Omaha.

George,

Thanks for adopting this thread and keeping it current.

Very helpful.

Mark

Does anyone know the status of US-75 N. After calculating everything out it looks like my quickest route from Columbia, MO to Omaha, NE would be to take 70W to 75N which goes straight into Omaha. Does anyone know if 75N is still open? I know it runs close to river so I am slightly worried. If it isn't, what would be my ideal route (extremely time sensitive!)?

........I do recall reading that either the KS or the NE Dept of Transportation was strongly encouraging travelers to AVOID US 75 as an alternate, citing large scale and lengthy lane closures due to ongoing construction. I further seem to recall their advice mentioning "lengthy delays" likely to be encountered by travelers insistent on using US 75.

I changed my plans concerning routing around the I-29 closures once I read about this back in late June.

Foy

From Columbia, take your normal route through KC and up I-29 to St. Joe, then US-71/US-34/I-29/I-80 as I indicated in my previous post.

Hello All,

It looks like there is lots of great info on this thread! I was wondering what would be the easiest and fastest way from Sioux City, IA to Kansas City, Kansas?! I will be traveling this in a couple weeks and am not looking forward to all the detours! Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!!

You really just have to look up at the Route suggested previously by GLC. The only exception is that since you don't need to go to Omaha itself, you'd want to head east on I-680/I-80 to US-71, and take that all the way to St. Joe.

You would have to take I-680 east, because I-29 is closed from there to I-480. In your case, you could save some miles by taking US-59 south instead of US-71, that's open to I-29 at Craig. Check the Iowa and Missouri DOT sites before you leave to see if I-29 has reopened yet.

I just made a Kansas City-Omaha-Lincoln trip this past weekend and thus had to navigate this region, and thought I'd share some up-to-date information.

I-29 will not be viable again for a long time. The roadway is completely destroyed in much of the affected area and will need to be totally reconstructed.

http://www.iowadot.gov/floods/2011/images/flood90.jpg
(I-29 north of Council Bluffs, image from Iowa DOT)

The non-interstate routes through the flood plain have not fared any better.

http://www.iowadot.gov/floods/2011/images3/flood17.jpg
(IA-2 between I-29 and Nebraska City, image from Iowa DOT)

So get to know detours if you have to traverse this region regularly -- you're going to be using them for a while. Personally I don't expect to be using I-29 again before next summer, barring some superhuman construction effort, and even that is contingent on the Missouri River actually receding sometime soon -- last I heard there was still plenty more water to come.

If you are coming from well outside the lower Missouri Valley region and can just avoid the I-29 corridor completely, do so. If I was in St. Louis, I would head straight north to I-80 or I-90 and figure out a route west from there. In a lot of cases this has become the only option.

For KC to Omaha, the current local detour diverts you onto US-136 east at Rock Port to US-59 north at Tarkio to US-34 west at Emerson and then rejoins I-29. The reverse of that route is the southbound detour. This adds about 45-60 minutes. This detour has actually been signed by Iowa and Missouri DOTs.

From KC to Lincoln (and points west on I-80) you can take I-70 west to US-75 at Topeka to NE-2 west at Nebraska City into Lincoln. There is some repaving on US-75 between Topeka and Holton but nothing seriously impacting unless you catch it at peak hour (KDOT has suspended the project, probably due to US-75 suddenly becoming a major detour route, but the lane closures are still there). This is the simplest route, but there are a lot of alternate paths that can shave some time off (US-73/US-36/K-7).

If you want to explore other routes, one stretch in northeast Kansas you definitely want to avoid is US-36 just east of US-75 between Fairview and Hiawatha. Two bridge reconstruction projects have it reduced to a single 10' lane with timed signals handling flow one direction at a time. If you run into heavy traffic here (which is more likely given all the detouring through the region), you can expect to be parked for quite a while.

Thanks for joining and welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum. That list of detours and the photos are real "eye-openers" Routing in the area just got very complicated!

Mark

From reading local sources, it looks like it could be be 2 YEARS before I-680 will be open between I-29 and Omaha. The road is essentially gone.

As far as I-29 goes, it's probably going to be late October before the water is down enough to even take a look at the damage and estimate how long it's going to take to get it open again. Iowa DOT and MODOT *wants* to get it open by the end of the year, but that's all dependent on how badly the roadbed has been undermined.

IA-2 supposedly looks as bad as I-680, that's not going to be open for a long time.

If you take alternates such as US-59 or US-71, expect congestion and speed traps in towns such as Tarkio and Clarinda.