St. Joseph City Manager emphasizing importance of Downtown exit in I-229 project

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- The I-229 Moving Forward Project continues to be a major topic of conversation for Downtown St. Joseph business owners, and also, city officials.

The project is currently in its "project-preparation phase", which means the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is working on survey-data collection and working with the Federal Highway Administration on de-designating I-229 as an interstate.

Downtown business owners have made their voices heard by letting MoDOT know an exit to downtown is a major priority for them. St. Joseph City Manager Mike Schumacher echoed that same sentiment.

"We're fully engaged with MoDOT on this project," Schumacher said. "The primary message that we're sending is access to downtown. Whatever they come up with, we wanna be at the table to make sure that access to downtown is maintained and we protect our downtown businesses and access to downtown."

MoDOT and the City of St. Joseph know that this project will take some time, but both sides are confident that this could be better for everyone if all needs are met.

"This project is going to take some time," Schumacher said. "We need to make sure there's access to Downtown, but if the plan doesn't include access to Downtown, the plan's going to be highly problematic."

"It's going to look nicer than what it is now," MoDOT Project Leader Joyce Reynolds said. "It will function very similar to the way it does now, and hopefully the community can see that it's gonna be better."

Stay tuned to KQ2 News as we will continue to provide updates as this project progresses.