View Research Topics | View Complete Article List | Visit the Library
I-29 Corridor Plan
2007-11-04
Interstate 29 (I-29) is the core of a north-south transportation corridor that moves people and goods between Kansas City, Missouri and the Canadian border just south of Winnipeg. Its defining feature is an interstate highway designated as a Congressional High Priority Corridor under the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA21). However, it includes air, rail, waterway, and intermodal facilities in its transportation system, and rural and urban areas in its affected economies.
The I-29 corridor has been described by other reports as a prominent part of a Mexico-Canada (Central) corridor, a Mid-Continent Corridor, and a “NAFTA Superhighway.” By whatever name, it is an important throughway for cargo and passenger movement in the heart of the nation.
The I-29 Transportation System
Shippers today rely heavily on motor carriers to distribute goods along this corridor, since there is not a strong north-south rail or river system. The first Great Plains “trade corridor” was the network of rivers connecting frontier communities with major ports, coastal shipping, and east and west coast population centers. Later, the continent -spanning rail system opened the Great Plains to bulk agricultural production, and long dominated movement of products into and out of the northern Great Plains. In the past 20-years, rail service declined substantially in its capacity and ability to service rural customers. Cargo movement on the navigable stretch of the Missouri River is negligible; and the intra-regional movements of sand, gravel and rock dominate3 rather than southbound movements of export products.
From the Canadian border at Pembina, ND, I-29 runs through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa (along the border adjacent to Nebraska) and Missouri to Kansas City, Missouri, where it joins I-35 on its southward run to the US -Mexico border. It intersects with four major east-west interstates:
·the Montana-Minneapolis-Chicago segment of I-94 in Fargo, ND;
·the Seattle-Sioux Falls-Chicago segment of I-90 in Sioux Falls, SD;
·the San Francisco-Omaha-Chicago segment of I-80 in Council Bluffs, IA; and
·the Los Angeles-Kansas City-St. Louis segment of I-70 in Kansas City, MO.
Parallel National Highways include U.S. 75 east of I-29 and U.S. 81 west of I-29. In some cases, these parallel routes are used to divert traffic off I-29 if the system must be closed due to weather, flooding, or road construction. In other cases, these and smaller connectors are the main access routes for deliveries and pick-ups of cargo in rural areas.
