An e-mail from a mailing list and this DOT press release bring good news for western Iowa: The I-80 dual, divided freeway separation will be completed this week.
There will be some closures to get lane shifts complete, but starting Thursday, a traveler getting on I-80 at 13th Street in Omaha can go straight through to Madison Avenue in Council Bluffs with only the I-29 exits in between. The I-29/local/outer lanes have the South Expressway and South 24th Street exits. The entrance ramp at South Expressway will have its own bridge and lanes to southbound I-29 and eastbound I-80.
Technically, if you’re really hard-core about it, this means you can travel I-80 without traveling I-29, and travel I-29 without traveling I-80.
The wrap-up of this part of the Council Bluffs Interstate System project comes just as the next part starts. Construction on the I-29/I-480 interchange, which will include a complete rebuild and changes to the Nebraska Avenue, Avenue G, and 35th Street ramps, began in April (KETV). At the same time, the I-480 Missouri River bridge is undergoing major rehab on the Nebraska side that will last 2½ years (WOWT).