KS, MO highways and roads shut down in weekend snow storm. See if your route is affected
Editor’s note: Follow live Kansas City blizzard coverage here.
As a weekend winter storm continued Sunday morning, several major roads in the Kansas City area were partially or fully closed, with stalled cars creating slower driving conditions on multiple road shoulders.
According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, every major road in and out of Kansas City as far south as Nevada, Missouri, was covered in snow and was not considered to have clear driving conditions even if not formally shut down.
The department recommends that residents whose cars do slide off the road should stay put and wait for help to arrive rather than attempting to move their cars again.
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All highways in northeast Kansas were closed, along with all state highways in more than a dozen counties including Johnson and Wyandotte. Late Sunday morning, KDOT issued an ice warning for all of Leavenworth.
Interstate 35 northbound was closed around 1 p.m. between I-435 and Lenexa, though KDOT reported that alternate routes were available. Other Kansas road closures as of Sunday afternoon included:
U.S. 24 between Saint Marys and Kanas City.
U.S. 36 between Belleville and K-22.
U.S. 59 between U.S. 40 and the Missouri state border.
U.S. 69 between Louisburg and Lenexa, and between Overland Park and Mission.
U.S. 73 starting at U.S. 59 until the end of the highway.
I-35 between Edgerton and Kansas City.
I-69 throughout Kansas City.
I-70 throughout Kansas City, and eastbound starting at Hays.
I-670 throughout Kansas City.
K-4 starting at K-92 until the end of the highway.
K-5 between I-435 in Kansas City and U.S. 73 in Leavenworth.
K-10 between U.S. 40 and the Johnson County/Douglas County line.
K-16 between U.S. 59 and U.S. 24.
K-92 between Ozawkie and Oskaloosa, and McLouth and Leavenworth.
K-192 between Winchester and Edgerton.
Several highways were not officially closed but were completely covered with snow for several miles in either direction, including US. 56, K-7, K-32, K-33, K-92, I-435 and I-635, according to KDOT.
The southbound bridge to KS-5 on Interstate 635, going toward Fairfax, was closed, as was all eastbound traffic on KS-5 between I-635 and U.S. 69. North 65th Street in Kansas City was also closed in both directions, from South 59th Street to South 65th Street.
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In addition, the right lane of I-435 was closed past Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kansas. Road crews expected to clear the road by 1:40 p.m.
In Missouri, the right lane of U.S. 24 was closed starting east of Northern Boulevard. The left lane remained open.
Delays were expected on the northbound lanes of I-435 throughout Jackson County until at least 1:15 p.m. Along with the snow, at least one car crash was impacting driving conditions on I-435 Sunday morning.
The two northbound lanes of I-435 at U.S. 71 closed around noon after a car stalled out on the road. The two right lanes of I-435 moving westbound past Holmes Road also closed briefly around noon due to a crash.
A lone truck drives northbound on a snow packed I-35 on Sunday, Jan. 5.
The two right lanes of I-435 were also closed around Bannister Road Sunday morning as emergency crews tried to clear an accident; MODOT expected the section of highway to reopen around noon.
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Delays were further expected on I-435 around I-39 North, ending at Route EE, as well as from Holmes Road to Wornall Road.
A multi-vehicle crash also shut down the left shoulder of I-435 northbound in Grandview just before U.S. 71, which emergency crews expected to clear around 12:45 p.m.
The left lane of I-435 in south Kansas City closed near 119th Street early Sunday afternoon due to a crash.
Several stalled vehicles were causing further delays in Kansas City and further south, including:
The right shoulder of Overland Parkway in Overland Park, or Interstate 35 southbound at U.S. 69.
The right shoulder of I-435 at College Boulevard in south Overland Park.
The right shoulder of I-435 southbound near Gregory Boulevard in Raytown.
The right shoulder of I-435 southbound just past 87th Street in Raytown.
The right shoulder of Intestate 470 westbound at I-435 westbound in Grandview.
The left shoulder of I-635 southbound before Missouri Route 9 in Riverside.
The right shoulder of I-70 westbound at Blue Ridge Cutoff in east Kansas City.
The right shoulder of I-435 southbound just past Bannister Road in Kansas City.
At least six stalled vehicles on U.S. 69 between W 95th Street and W 103rd Street in Overland Park.
The right shoulder of U.S. 69 southbound just past 119th Street, near the Johnson and Miami county line.
The right shoulder of I-670 eastbound at Genessee Street in Kansas City.
I-670 eastbound at U.S. 71 southbound in Kansas City.
The right shoulder of I-435 southbound at I-70 in east Kansas City.
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Kansas City streetcar service was suspended around 8 a.m. Sunday. KC SCOUT, the city’s traffic management system, began experiencing outages Sunday afternoon.
After running intermittently since 8:45 a.m., the Kansas City streetcar officially suspended service at 3:15 p.m. Sunday. IRIS cars and Freedom Paratransit buses, both RideKC services, have also been suspended at least through the end of the day.
As of 4 p.m. Sunday, RideKC had not announced an end to KCATA bus service, and bus arrival times were still appearing as scheduled on Kansas City’s live transit tracker.
Road cleaning crews began clearing I-435 around I-470 East around 9:30 a.m., according to MODOT.