$1.5 billion I-80/29 reconstruction project

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Aug 26, 2022 10:39 am

Work continues at I-29/I-480/West Broadway interchange

The Interstate 29/Interstate 480/West Broadway System Interchange project is part of an overhaul of the interstate system in Council Bluffs. Construction is slated to continue through summer 2024. The Iowa Department of Transportation says the project will improve mobility and safety for about 18 miles of highway. Find more information at CouncilBluffsInterstate.IowaDOT.gov.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Sat Aug 27, 2022 5:03 pm

We plan to traverse this area later tonight. It will be interesting to see how it has changed in the many months since I last used that bridge to get to Council Bluffs.

Post by **Brad** » Sat Aug 27, 2022 9:13 pm

nativeomahan wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 5:03 pm We plan to traverse this area later tonight. It will be interesting to see how it has changed in the many months since I last used that bridge to get to Council Bluffs.

You wont even recognize it! Just crazy all the work around I/29 and Broadway right now.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sat Aug 27, 2022 11:38 pm

Here are a few of those pictures:

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Sat May 13, 2023 1:35 pm

A few of the ramps appear to be open. When you head east out of downtown it looks like you can take the new ramps north and south to get on I29 now.

Post by **Brad** » Sat May 13, 2023 10:54 pm

iamjacobm wrote: Sat May 13, 2023 1:35 pm A few of the ramps appear to be open. When you head east out of downtown it looks like you can take the new ramps north and south to get on I29 now.

The north has been open several moths. I drove it in my Jan 2023 Grow Omaha Construction Update. South was open too, but it dumped you back down on to the access road before 9th ave.

Post by **BRoss** » Sat May 13, 2023 11:26 pm

The northbound to westbound flyover looks like it's pretty much done now too. I'm thinking it will open towards the end of month or in June. Access would be from the frontage roads still as the bridge over 9th Ave still has a ways to go.

Edit: well apparently tomorrow (Sunday) is when it's opening. Access from I-29 mainline coming in August.

Post by **BRoss** » Sun May 14, 2023 5:53 pm

More info from OWH today. New ramp opens tonight at 11 PM. Northbound I-29 opens in August and southbound opens in September.

Eastbound entrance ramp from Madison Street on I-80 will be closing for six months.

Steve Liewer / Omaha World Herald wrote: Traffic Hot Spots: Big change this week on I-29 in Council Bluffs as project winds down

At 11 p.m. this evening — weather permitting — the new ramp from the northbound frontage road to westbound Interstate 480 will open to traffic. Traffic heading to I-480 from the northbound lanes of I-29 will use that ramp as well when I-29 reopens later this year.

...

Shortly after midnight, another interstate ramp in Council Bluffs will close.

On the city’s east side, the ramp from Madison Avenue to eastbound Interstate 80 will be closed for six months to allow construction crews to rebuild it and connect to the new eastbound bridge currently under construction.

...

On the northwest edge of the overall project, the northbound lanes of I-29 between Nebraska Avenue and G Avenue (Exit 54A) are expected to reopen by August, Thompson said. The southbound lanes of I-29, closed from North 25th Street (Exit 55) to Nebraska Avenue, should reopen a month later.

Post by **BRoss** » Wed May 31, 2023 6:34 pm

Article talking about the construction and progress:

https://www.constructionequipmentguide. ... ject/61206

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:13 pm

Now I wonder how the streetcar line extension line to CB, will cross the i29 highway system

Post by **Brad** » Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:39 pm

Renovator2559 wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:13 pm Now I wonder how the streetcar line extension line to CB, will cross the i29 highway system

I assume it would go under it since all the interstate parts are up in the air by 2nd Ave.

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:42 pm

Brad wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:39 pm
Renovator2559 wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:13 pm Now I wonder how the streetcar line extension line to CB, will cross the i29 highway system
I assume it would go under it since all the interstate parts are up in the air by 2nd Ave.

As in one of the streets that cross both the frontage roads and goes under the i29?

Post by **BRoss** » Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:45 pm

I-29 opening next week!

Post by **BRoss** » Mon Aug 14, 2023 5:07 pm

GenX · Post by **GenX** » Mon Aug 14, 2023 11:58 pm

It appears there will be a number of good sites for future development as a result of this project.

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Tue Aug 15, 2023 10:55 am

Even though the i29 has been "closed" for a few months, I generally like to take this path just to admire the nicely carved columns and concrete barriers; which fit the overall common wavy design language aesthetic of council bluffs.

I have now taken the newly opened NB i29 and found it interesting how instead of selecting the left fork to go to WB i480, we must select the right fork to go to WB i480; because the right fork includes merged traffic from the Nebraska NB frontage road.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Aug 25, 2023 7:30 pm

Major progress being made on I-29 construction east of downtown Omaha

Progress is being made on I-29 construction through Council Bluffs.

Post by **BRoss** » Mon Oct 16, 2023 9:26 pm

I-29 southbound to I-480 is now open.

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Tue Oct 17, 2023 7:22 am

cant wait till it is done-done. 9th ave is restricted, and they have a section of concrete removed west of the NB frontage road, under the overpass heading west bound from Broadway

Post by **BRoss** » Tue Jul 22, 2025 12:57 pm

A few days ago, the Council Bluffs Interstate System Improvement Program Facebook page posted that all remaining construction impacting traffic will be done in November.

After 20 years, this project is finally almost done. As someone who's watched this closely over the years, it's crazy to see it come to an end. I remember seeing the plans and looking forward to seeing each portion come to fruition.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed Jul 23, 2025 7:45 pm

Wow it has been a long time coming. What a huge improvement it has made though.

halgy · Post by **halgy** » Fri Jul 25, 2025 8:43 am

It is comically overbuilt, but there shouldn't be any traffic issues for...ever. I'd be nice if I-80 through Omaha had express lanes, too, but I don't see a way to do that without adding lanes (ew), causing a massive flustercluck, or both.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Fri Jul 25, 2025 10:30 am

halgy wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 8:43 am It is comically overbuilt, but there shouldn't be any traffic issues for...ever. I'd be nice if I-80 through Omaha had express lanes, too, but I don't see a way to do that without adding lanes (ew), causing a massive flustercluck, or both.

I was gonna say that same thing. I dont know in what world this isnt, as you said, comically overbuilt. Its almost akin to doing the same thing in Kearney and GI. Its still really cool from an engineering standpoint.

As for having this done in Omaha... I dont know how useful it would be, as Omaha is much more of a destination. You'd have to have a number of points where the express lanes join with the feeder lanes, cause god forbid you make one mistake and have to go from 13th street all the way to 114th and turn around when your desired exit was 42nd.

Speaking in real life of that scenario, I dont go down southwest a whole lot, but when I do its generally to get off on I street. I've mistakenly missed the Center/I-L-Q exit before, and if you manage to do that, youre on the hook alllllllll the way to Giles, so that kinda sucks if you make that mistake. But on the other hand, there have been times Ive seen traffic miserably backed up on I-80, and the feeder lanes are blissfully whizzing by and can rejoin after Q street. So thats a little trick if you can predict how bad the through lanes are going to be.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Sat Jul 26, 2025 1:22 am

halgy wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 8:43 am It is comically overbuilt, but there shouldn't be any traffic issues for...ever. I'd be nice if I-80 through Omaha had express lanes, too, but I don't see a way to do that without adding lanes (ew), causing a massive flustercluck, or both.

I agree that it is overbuilt——probably the result of an influential member of the Iowa caucus who was able to wrangle $ from the federal highway fund. I think the $ would have been better spent on local mass transportation infrastructure.

GenX · Post by **GenX** » Sat Jul 26, 2025 2:45 am

halgy wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 8:43 am It is comically overbuilt, but there shouldn't be any traffic issues for...ever. I'd be nice if I-80 through Omaha had express lanes, too, but I don't see a way to do that without adding lanes (ew), causing a massive flustercluck, or both.

Maybe a bit overbuilt, but still some questionable decisions. The I-480 to I-29 NB flyover and the through lanes from I-29 leave no room for future growth. Not that it’s going to happen anytime soon, but as we’ve learned from other interchanges, it’s best to plan for future growth, should it materialize.

The only other”gripe” is they’re taking their merry time painting everything. It feels like much of it will never be done, yet it was paid for. I know it’s a little thing, but that little thing made it look really nice.

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Mon Aug 25, 2025 12:04 am

ricko wrote: Sat Jul 26, 2025 1:22 am I agree that it is overbuilt——probably the result of an influential member of the Iowa caucus who was able to wrangle $ from the federal highway fund. I think the $ would have been better spent on local mass transportation infrastructure.

We already have plenty of funding going towards public transit, we have to balance the needs of those of us that like public transit, while acknowledging that there are people that like the quality of the roads. The streetcar is already a big ticket item, that some people complain that its too much on public transit. We can't just divert funds more in favor of public transit and skimp on a highway system like this.
Council Bluffs is currently expanding/repairing their River's Edge south trail.

I like the fact that Council Bluffs is not just plopping an ugly freeway and CB is taking the time to beautify the area with soon to be decorative planters flanking the 4 corners of the intersection that lead to CB and or Omaha.

I appreciate all the minute details that Council Bluffs is doing to make the undersides of the i29 interchange, pleasing to the eye.
As a pedestrian and a biker; this encourages me to visit Council Bluffs more and this makes this transitory area cared for and not an eyesore.

Overall, Council Bluffs is staying true to its wavy and "bluff" designs, even their bridge trails have the "bluff" design as seen in the sandstone planters.

CB is now even extending its functionally sturdy decorative street lamps into the i29/i480 exchange area.
The brick layering and brick patterns on W Broadway, looks quite nice; as a pedestrian I can appreciate that W Broadway does not look like the typical ugly grey stroad.

I heard Eric Miller mention on Grow Omaha that the underside of i480 is somewhat of an eyesore and I agree with that. I hope that the current painting of the undersides of the i480 will look nicer and not just concrete grey because as a pedestrian through the Riverfront, I wouldn't mind the undersides of the i480 bridge to look nicer.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Aug 25, 2025 12:01 pm

I do like those decorative walls they have put up in CB. I have been meaning to take a picture but keep forgetting.

JohnFN · Post by **JohnFN** » Mon Aug 25, 2025 12:21 pm

I agree. Council Bluffs Parks and Rec definitely deserves recognition for how the trail system and general pedestrian experience has gotten better in recent years. They're fighting a brutal uphill battle too, with the railway going right through the center of town, and a good chunk of their residential being difficult hilly terrain. But their landscaping, recent development, and future strategy are exciting. To be fair though, I don't live in the area, so it might have some major holes that I'd be frustrated with as a resident.

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Mon Aug 25, 2025 2:20 pm

skinzfan23 wrote: Mon Aug 25, 2025 12:01 pm I do like those decorative walls they have put up in CB. I have been meaning to take a picture but keep forgetting.

No worries, you churn out some nice pictures in other areas and we appreciate your pictures and those that others share! There are just so many pictures to take, so many ongoing projects that are picture worthy.

JohnFN wrote: Mon Aug 25, 2025 12:21 pm I agree. Council Bluffs Parks and Rec definitely deserves recognition for how the trail system and general pedestrian experience has gotten better in recent years. They're fighting a brutal uphill battle too, with the railway going right through the center of town, and a good chunk of their residential being difficult hilly terrain. But their landscaping, recent development, and future strategy are exciting. To be fair though, I don't live in the area, so it might have some major holes that I'd be frustrated with as a resident.

I would say that Council Bluffs fills its role as a partner compact city. Omaha and Council Bluffs have both had this regional cooperation mindset from the beginning that other regions like St. Louis wishes they had.

The Omaha metro geography is quite nice and I am glad that the Omaha metro does not look like a copy paste star shaped layout of just another KC, Tulsa clone. The streetcar will leverage our east to west layout perfectly.

We have a great asset in Omaha being a frontier layout city and Council Bluffs being the Pennsylvania style town square city.

The original founders of Kanesville (CB), saw that Omaha had just the perfect land and geography to create a rail hub and a nice city.
Council Bluffs was destined to be a compact city with its own charm.

CB's geographical constraints are pushing them to make the best with what they have.
A lot of these CB beautification efforts are bleeding over into the Omaha side too.
Just look at the beautifully layered patterned brick around the Brickline's promenade.

Post by **BRoss** » Wed Nov 19, 2025 3:59 pm

Looks like last night they did the last traffic shift between I-29 and Madison Ave and everything is now fully open. It's kind of surreal to see this massive rebuild now be complete.

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Tue Nov 25, 2025 11:19 am

Nice beautiful sandstone bridges in the council bluffs trails.
Pretty solid bridges, love the consistent look!

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Nov 25, 2025 11:39 am

Those bridges have been there on the south side of CB on the trail for at least 15-20 years, not anything added recently.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Nov 25, 2025 12:05 pm

skinzfan23 wrote: Tue Nov 25, 2025 11:39 am Those bridges have been there on the south side of CB on the trail for at least 15-20 years, not anything added recently.

15 years old not not much maintenance in those 15 years. Go look the Google Earth from 2010, they had nice landscaping on the outside of them when they were installed. In Renovator2559's post, looks like they were completely overgrown and then trimmed back with a string trimmer...

Also why is this in the "$700 million I-80/29 reconstruction project" thread?

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Tue Nov 25, 2025 12:15 pm

Please feel free to move to a Council Bluffs dedidicated thread, I attempted to search but couldn't find it.

As for the bridges, they are now old but it shows that the ideas were laid out not too long ago. These bridges insured the CB highway system as well.

Post by **BRoss** » Sat Feb 07, 2026 1:06 pm

Happened to click a bookmark I have to the dedicated website for this project and noticed it is now gone and redirects to a page on Iowa DOT's main website that talks about the completed project.

There is a 108 page PDF on there that looks back and talks about the history, highlights, and challenges of this project.

They also have a video talking about it as well:

I have finally updated the topic title to correctly reflect the actual dollar amount this ended up being.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Sat Feb 07, 2026 1:20 pm

I hope whatever problem there was, was solved by this

I'm not one to tell somebody how to spend their money, but I was always scratching my head with this one.

Post by **BRoss** » Sat Feb 07, 2026 1:56 pm

Busguy2010 wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 1:20 pm I hope whatever problem there was, was solved by this

I'm not one to tell somebody how to spend their money, but I was always scratching my head with this one.

Many may consider this overbuilt, but what was there before was pretty bad. The condition of the pavement, only being two lanes in both directions, weaving issues, and poorly designed system interchanges with left exits were addressed with this reconstruction.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Sat Feb 07, 2026 2:32 pm

I'll kick rocks the day CB has a traffic problem. Heh. I think its funny they did this, but don't want a streetcar.

But yeah, every surface improvement is nice. It's just on the chance I use it, I feel it really is overbuilt.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sat Feb 07, 2026 11:18 pm

Isn’t that any city resident anywhere. They want all these extra lanes all the time but when it comes to any form of public transportation they think it’s too expensive.

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Tue Feb 10, 2026 6:34 am

Busguy2010 wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 2:32 pm I'll kick rocks the day CB has a traffic problem. Heh. I think its funny they did this, but don't want a streetcar.

But yeah, every surface improvement is nice. It's just on the chance I use it, I feel it really is overbuilt.

I'd say that the streetcar wouldn't do anything to resolve the issues the interstate had. I'm excited for the streetcar in Omaha, and it'd be cool if we had an extension in council bluffs, but the streetcar would have minimal impact on interstate traffic, especially if the line didn't connect west broadway to the manawa power centre. A lot of people take the interstate to get to marketplace/manawa power/metro crossing, but if there aren't lines to them, it's a moot point. Right now, the interstate carries up to 75,000 cars a day and is expected to reach 130,000 by 2030 with up to 25% of that being semi-trailer traffic. As overbuilt as it may be now, it puts it in a better position to handle a 73% increase in 4 years