History
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 been seeing its businesses migrate to shopping malls along U.S. Route 169 (also known as the Belt Highway) about two miles (3 km) 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).
Read more about this topic: Interstate 229 (Missouri)
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