Another southwest Iowa roadway that was reduced to rubble by this summer’s flooding of the Missouri River has reopened. State Highway 2 between Interstate 29 and Nebraska City opened to traffic over the weekend. Dena Gray-Fisher, with Iowa D.O.t, says it means the end to another pesky detour for many residents and commuters in Iowa and Nebraska.
“Everybody’s just so relieved,” Gray-Fisher says. “It’s been a long time, over four months now, and everybody’s trying to get back to normal after the Missouri River flooding.” Gray-Fisher says D.O.T. crews are still hard at work rebuilding Interstate-680 from the Mormon Bridge to I-29 north of Council Bluffs.
“I-680 is making excellent progress,” she says. “The main line roadway, the traffic lanes, are paved now. Now, the work needs to be done as far as getting the median in shape, the shoulders, paving the ramps. There’s still quite a bit of work left but some major progress has been accomplished.”
Months of churning water tore up miles of Iowa highways, crumbling the concrete. When the flood waters finally receeded, some roads were left looking more like someone had dumped out a bag of gray potato chips.