By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri state transportation officials might be closing in on a proposed reconfiguration of I-229 through downtown St. Joseph.
Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer says it appears the Missouri Department of Transportation favors replacing the double-decker bridge for a four-lane side-by-side highway running alongside the Missouri River.
“It’s still, I think, something that’s on the drawing board, but it appears to me that it satisfies more of what people desire and dispels concerns that were being voiced with some of the other scenarios,” Sawyer tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.
MoDOT has proposed a number of alternatives for reconstruction of I-229, with a special emphasis on the double-decker bridge along the Missouri River in downtown St. Joseph.
Opinion is divided among St. Joseph officials and St. Joseph residents on whether the double decker in downtown St. Joseph should stay or go. Alternatives proposed by MoDOT have gotten lukewarm response. MoDOT has stated maintenance of the double decker bridge is too expensive.
Sawyer says the latest information from state transportation officials still calls for getting rid of the double-decker bridge.
“Keeps the interstate designation, but takes away some of the concerns that exist with the double decker.”
Local officials have fretted over a suggestion I-229 could lose its interstate designation, which would greatly reduce federal funding to maintain the highway that stretches from just south of St. Joseph to north of the city.
Sawyer says the focus of discussions with MoDOT needs to be on the goal of the downtown St. Joseph interstate.
“Having the same ability to move traffic through there in a two north, two south lane approach, I think, makes a lot of sense,” Sawyer says. “Some of the other drawings and some of the other considerations did create concern. You’re really kind of shutting off too much of the flow.”
Sawyer says the new design would maintain the goal of keeping I-229 as a gateway for truckers to bring agricultural and industrial goods to the heart of St. Joseph.