The Iowa Department of Transportation has reopened a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 29 in western Iowa, after flooding closed it late last month.
I-29 from exit 61 near Crescent to exit 71 near Loveland is now open. But the Iowa DOT is keeping exit 66 at Honey Creek closed.
“The interchange itself – the on-and-off ramps – are okay, but the county road on the east and the west side is still underwater,” said Iowa DOT Traffic Operations Engineer Austin Yates.
The Iowa DOT says I-29 is open in both directions across western Iowa, but there may be some "occasional lane closures."
Sections of I-29 and I-680 were closed since Sept. 20 due to a third round of flooding in the area. The Iowa DOT reopened I-680 from the Missouri River to the I-29 interchange and I-29 from Council Bluffs to Crescent on Sept. 27 because floodwaters receded and cleanup finished in those portions.
The 10-mile section from Crescent to Loveland remained closed for another week until today because about a mile of that section was still underwater.
The I-29 section closures led to some problems for large trucks. Drivers that missed the posted detour signs because they were focused on their GPS ended up at a pair of low-clearance tunnels in Harrison and Pottawattamie counties. Some trucks that tried to squeeze under the overpasses got stuck, according to the Iowa State Patrol and Iowa DOT. Yates said with the 10 miles reopened, that problem is gone.
The Missouri River at Omaha is currently below minor flood stage.
