By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Mayor John Josendale says plans are moving forward for the renovation of Interstate 229, though he admits they are moving slower than he would like.
The future of the interstate loop was one of the topics of discussion in the mayor’s State of the City address Thursday morning at Missouri Western State University.
Josendale says government moves much slower than business, something he has had to get used to.
“In this particular case, there’s a plan now. It’s got to be reviewed. It’s got to be signed off by environmental agencies and then that will be submitted,” Josendale tells reporters after his presentation. “There will be another public hearing so the public hears exactly what we’re doing and then we’ll start putting funding together to make it work.”
It appears the Missouri Department of Transportation has settled on tearing down the double-decker along the Missouri River and stripping the highway of its interstate designation, which gives the city a bit more flexibility.
Interchanges are planned for St. Joseph Avenue and 4th Street with a possible exit onto 6th Street.
Though the design of the new highway might not be settled until construction begins.
“But the plan would be to do a design-build,” Josendale says. “So, the idea that we have on where the road would go, then you have contractors that would bid and, as a design-build, they design it and they may have things the work better.”
Josendale sees opportunity in the plans for I-229 even if it will no longer be an interstate and will no longer feature the downtown double decker bridge.
“As we bring it down to grade level, you then have to have the ability to get up over the railroad tracks to bring traffic into downtown,” according to Josendale. “If it’s an interstate it has certain requirements. If it’s a state road it has other requirements. So, the non-designation as an interstate actually gives us more ability to do things with it.”
Josendale says the plans are moving slower than he would prefer, but he says the city is working closely with MoDOT on I-229.