Interstate 229 (Missouri)

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Interstate 229
Auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System

Length:

14.97 mi (24 km)

Formed:

1986

South end:

I-29 / US 71

Major
junctions:

US 59 in St. Joseph

North end:

I-29 / US 59 / US 71

Missouri Highways
< Route 224		Route 231 >
Supplemental

Interstate 229 (abbreviated I-229) in the state of Missouri is an approximately 14 mile (22.5 km) interstate highway spur designed to speed traffic from Interstate 29 to downtown Saint Joseph.

The interstate, which was built in the late 1970s and early 1980s (with the southern section from downtown completed in 1979 and the northern section from downtown to the northern portion of I-29 completed in 1986), was intended to revive St. Joseph's downtown which had steadily been seeing its businesses migrate to shopping malls along U.S. Route 169 (also known as the Belt Highway) about two miles east of downtown near I-29. I-29 initially had been designed to bypass developed areas of St. Joseph but its construction spurred development near the interstate on the city's east side.

Access to St. Joseph's downtown business district earlier had been via residential streets often on a confusing maze of one-way streets.

The most dramatic and controversial section of the road is a two-level viaduct (with northbound cars on the top) on the west side of downtown separating the town from the Missouri River. Its construction caused several historic downtown buildings to be torn down including portions of Robidoux Row (built by the city's founder Joseph Robidoux).[1]

I-229 viaduct from north on Wyeth Hill. The Missouri River is on the right.

Exit list

County	Location	#	Destinations	Notes
Buchanan			I-29 / US 71 – Kansas City, Council Bluffs	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			Route A	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1D	Route 752	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	St. Joseph	3	Route 371 (22nd Street)
		4	East Lake Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		4A	US 59 south (6th Street) / Atchison Street	South end of US 59 overlap; southbound exit and northbound entrance
		4B	US 36 - Kansas, Cameron	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		4B	US 36 east – Cameron	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		5	Route 759 to US 36 west	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		6A	Edmond Street - St. Joseph Central Business District	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		6A	Felix Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		6B	US 59 north (St. Joseph Avenue)	North end of US 59 overlap; northbound exit and southbound entrance
		7	Highland Avenue
Andrew		11	Route K – Amazonia
		14A	I-29 south / US 59 south / US 71 south – Kansas City	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		14B	US 59 north / US 71 north – Maryville	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		14C	I-29 north - Council Bluffs	Northbound exit and southbound entrance