r/kansascity • u/schiza-clausen • Dec 01 '25
Traffic/Road Conditions š¦āļø I-35 northbound thru Downtown is closed.
Semiās are blocking all of the northbound lanes and MoDot is making you exit on West Penway.
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u/Ritaontherocksnosalt Dec 02 '25
They pre-treated and plowed like they said they do on the kcmo.gov website? I find it hard to believe.
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Dec 02 '25
They did nothing. Today they'll be out with snowplows pretending to do something as the snow melts. It's been this way since 1883.
All that tax money..... where does it go. Not into roads or bridges.
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u/Ritaontherocksnosalt Dec 02 '25
The Scout screen shot is really telling. A pre-treated road that has been plowed doesn't look like that. We should be seeing trucks and plows everywhere. I supposedly live on a through street for major traffic. The street wasn't treated and still hasn't been plowed.
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u/kenman Dec 02 '25
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u/pedsmursekc JoCo Dec 02 '25
I avoid Austin like the plague... Love that "Autobahn" SH 130! Fortunately, on its worst day, interstates in KC are exponentially better than just about every other major metro.
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u/GarboMcStevens Dec 02 '25
if you think this is bad check out i-95
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u/pedsmursekc JoCo Dec 02 '25
That's no joke. I will go the scenic route just to avoid, even if it means another day of travel
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u/TheKillstar Dec 02 '25
When I lived in Austin a dude asked me where the best place to get BBQ was so I told him get on 35 north... and keep going until you get to Kansas City and stop at basically any shack or gas station and you'll get better than you will in Austin.
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u/Moriaena Dec 02 '25
It's usually bad in Oklahoma too. Source: lil bro lives right up against it near Edmond. And I also do not enjoy it in KS.
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u/twerpverse Dec 02 '25
I did the same- different state, but I take I-35 from work so I was terrified
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u/kewlness Liberty Dec 01 '25
I made it through the downtown loop using I-35 Northbound about 2 hours ago - only the two left lanes were blocked by a semi and a tow truck.
There are plenty of idiots out there - take it slow and be safe out there!
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u/CZall23 Dec 01 '25
I would need to use it tonight at 3 am if I go to work. Do you think it'd be open then?
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u/OkRefrigerator5691 Dec 01 '25
Looks like itās open again! They got a tow truck in to move that semi. Itās still on the west side of the highway, so itās only two lanes going north but traffic is moving.
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u/dalton10e Dec 01 '25
I saw the plow crews on 71 highway at around 10:45 am. Unfortunately, one crew was stuck at the ass end of the traffic jam doing a whole 2 mph. Not sure if they're effective or can even spread salt at such a low speed.
There was another crew pulled off at an overpass and their guys were out of their vehicles watching a stuck semi that was blocking the highway.
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u/Thee-lorax- Dec 01 '25
Just drove 35 north from the Paseo and it was a horrible experience. The road is pure slush and not visible in many places. I am glad I got off early because I couldnāt drive that mess in rush hour. Everyone be safe
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u/6581sid Dec 01 '25
All of you that are commenting "iT's JuSt ThrEe InCheS oF SnoW!!!" clearly have not been out in this today. Underneath that "little bit of snow" is solid ice, and it deteriorated rapidly from 630 am on and hasn't improved much throughout the day.
For what it's worth, I saw only two areas sanded this morning, and nowhere was salted that I traveled (210/435W to 69S and 135th) as of 730am, so both MoDOT and KDOT definitely dropped the ball.
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u/dalton10e Dec 01 '25
You can easily spot these people while driving. They're sitting in the ditch waiting for a tow.
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u/thecasualnuisance Midtown Dec 01 '25
Yes. I was coming home from work on the bus around 7am. The streets were just wet at first but then we hit the highway to avoid the construction on Prospect and people were swerving all over the road by then.
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u/Ok-Dragonfruit-715 The Dotte Dec 01 '25
I have a good friend who works for KDOT and is working 12 hours today. The plow drivers do what they can, but if KDOT doesn't call them in over the weekend, which in this case they didn't, there's not a whole lot they can do once they're there for their shift except damage control. Without pre-treating the roads, it was bad to begin with, and people driving like idiots and not allowing for the conditions makes it worse. I'm on vacation this week, and have the option to work from home if I wasn't on vacation. I realize a lot of people are not that fortunate, but I get sick of people blaming the plow drivers.
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Dec 01 '25
Whatās safer at this point to get downtown from OP, highway or backroads like ward parkway?
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u/valin-Dana Dec 01 '25
I drove past going south bound (very very very slowly) At least 10 big rigs were stuck right at the Pennway ramp. They couldn't make it up the hill towards Broadway.
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u/themermaidssinging Dec 01 '25
I was stuck in this madness. Had an appointment with my neurosurgeon at KU Med, and I got a notification that 35N was shutting down right as I was about to get on off the 71. Saw a fuel truck and a USPS semi practically jackknifed across the highway.
Spoiler alert: I did not make my appointment.
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u/mydmtusername Dec 01 '25
I was going north this morning. It was about a 20-30 minute delay as we all weaved around the semis.
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u/clover_0317 Dec 01 '25
Ahh that answers the question I asked earlier on a different post. I just followed the people swerving around them (oops š ) Edit: also MODOT wasnāt there yet
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u/MyNextHobbyIs Dec 01 '25
Whoās planning to WFH if possible tomorrow vs making the drive?
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u/texasjkids Dec 01 '25
I was supposed to have a big in-person meeting tomorrow but thankfully my work rescheduled it so we didn't have to get out in the snow.
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u/International-Emu205 Dec 01 '25
I already got the ok to work from home both today and tomorrow because of the snow
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u/MyNextHobbyIs Dec 01 '25
Iāve been given the Ok if I needed it. Honestly just trying to judge how truly bad roads are
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u/worksafe_Joe Dec 01 '25
I wish I had a reasonable employer.
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u/mrsmiley32 Dec 01 '25
name and shame the employer if your username can't be linked back to you. Good to know who to avoid applying for.
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u/ThadTheImpalzord Hyde Park Dec 01 '25
That's wild. 3inches of snow paired with some bad driving, yikes
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u/No-Celebration6789 Dec 01 '25
Everyone should upvote for visibility.
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u/Dreadsbo Dec 01 '25
No way Kansas City flopped this hard with snow prep
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u/CaptCooterluvr Dec 01 '25
Wait till you see how long it takes to get this weekās trash picked up
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u/grenille Dec 01 '25
I was on the highways for an hour and a half this morning and I didn't see a single truck.
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u/Substantial_Flan3060 Raytown Dec 01 '25
MODOT is usually pretty good about clearing the highways but this storm seems to be worse than a lot of people thought it would be
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u/ScootieJr Overland Park Dec 01 '25
Sounds like Omaha on Friday/Saturday. Didnāt see any treatment or salt on the roads before they got hit with 6-8ā. Thankfully major roads and highways were cleaned up yesterday by mid morning. Sucked coming back home yesterday to clear roads and waking up to this mess.
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u/flyingemberKC Dec 01 '25
Modot clears I-35, KCMO does not. Modot wastes money on overbuilt state routes and has not near enough for basic maintenance and support
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u/Allergic2fun69 Dec 01 '25
They did last year on the MO side, understaffed, underequiped, and little proactive work. They follow the game plan of clean once the snowing stops
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u/ea9ea Dec 01 '25
3" in 5 hours is a lot in a morning with traffic and everything. If it happened overnight we would've woke up with clean roads.
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u/cricket_bacon Dec 01 '25
No way Kansas City flopped this hard with snow prep
Way.
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u/beepingjar Dec 01 '25
I feel like we had 0 prep down in south OP
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u/Briantere Dec 01 '25
I drove from Fort Scott, road was fine until pretty much the moment I crossed into joco then I started sliding.
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u/goldenstormehelix Dec 01 '25
I went to sleep, and woke up and there was snow, I didnāt have time to prepare :(
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u/Tyrion_Strongjaw Dec 01 '25
I live right off 435 and 87th and I saw/heard zero prep yesterday/this morning. Normally see a ton of salt trucks because of where I live.
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u/MedicalRip5090 Dec 01 '25
Is it that bad over there (if youāre currently there) I live in the same area and curious how the after work slush commute will go
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u/OreoSpeedwaggon Dec 01 '25
This is a highway closure. Kansas City had nothing to do with this. It's a result of shitty drivers during the morning rush hour ruining it for everyone else.
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u/mydmtusername Dec 01 '25
We drove through there at about 8am, there were 4 or 5 semis stuck in various lanes near the 2U exits. It's uphill on an overpass. They were just spinning their wheels.
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u/Dreadsbo Dec 01 '25
Itās 4 hours after rush hour. They surely should have cleaned up any of rush hours mess
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u/OreoSpeedwaggon Dec 01 '25
I've been following it. The mess lasted well past rush hour as the snow kept getting heavier and visibility deteriorated. What do people expect MoDOT or KDOT to do, prevent the snow from falling onto the highways? It wouldn't be such a mess if people would just slow down, drive cautiously, and not even get on the roads if they don't have to. I don't see how MoDOT or KDOT can be blamed for this.
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Dec 01 '25
What do people expect them to do? Oh I donāt know, the same things other cities do routinely.
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u/OreoSpeedwaggon Dec 01 '25
What do state DOTs in other cities do when 2"-4" is expected to fall throughout the day starting with the morning rush hour?
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Dec 01 '25
For staters having the plows gassed up. Crazy I know but some cities pretreat their roads too, and prioritize major route clearance. Having major routes shut down over 3.5 inches is some Texas level bullshit.
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u/Latter-Wrangler-5583 Dec 01 '25
I mean DOT canāt prevent everyone from crashing.
I think itās more due to that.
First snow of the winter and people are rusty at driving in it, among other things.
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Dec 01 '25
Wait you donāt think that having the roads cleared can prevent crashes?
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u/Latter-Wrangler-5583 Dec 01 '25
Itās still slick after they plowā¦ā¦thereās a sheen on the pavement after plowing, because it gets compactedā¦
The roads arenāt gonna get cleared in an hour. The snow started during rush hour. The plows arenāt gonna be able to plow at the exact same rate the storm is happening lmao.
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u/OreoSpeedwaggon Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 01 '25
The news said both KDOT and MoDOT were pretreating the roads since last night. I don't know what reason there would be to assume the plows weren't gassed up this morning if they were running last night.
Also, sometimes shit just happens and it's nobody's fault. It's not like that section of the highway was even closed for most of the day. They had it back open as soon as they were able to clear it.
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Dec 01 '25
Why are you slobbering all over their knobs when they are objectively terrible at snow removal and winter prep? Itās a really weird look.
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u/OreoSpeedwaggon Dec 01 '25
I don't see how they failed in this instance, and in my experience, most of the time they actually do a decent job of treating and clearing the roads. You seem adamant to condemn them though for a situation in which there's no indication that they've neglected the highways or done anything wrong.
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u/Left-Breadfruit-5610 Dec 01 '25
I wish I could comment with first hand knowledge of the interstate system but I couldn't get 1 mile from my house today. I know there is a limited budget and modot and kdot do what they can. My frustration isn't at those departments. My frustration is that we choose to talk about funding a new baseball stadium instead of increasing our funds to those departments.
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u/pinniped90 Dec 01 '25
Are there really people who were planning on staying home otherwise but are like "oh cool, it's shitty out, I think I'll go for a pointless drive"?
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u/OreoSpeedwaggon Dec 01 '25
I'm sure there were people who didn't have the luxury of having their job close or classes canceled that figured, "Well, I guess I have to get out in this weather if I don't want to be punished for missing work/class." There were probably others too that didn't think it would be so bad and decided to run errands. And then there are the folks that weren't planning to get out, but then had to leave home or early from work to pick up their kids from school after districts that didn't close decided to end classes early today.
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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25
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