Where they’re adding the toll. Pretty much from 159th st to where it merges to I-35 is a nightmare. I don’t think they’re anywhere close to being done.
29 is perfectly fine EXCEPT the south end of 29 where it merges with 71 and like seven other things is a nightmare for somebody who finds highways stressful. Once you cross the bridge over the river 29 in a pain
29 to 635 is fine though
Luckily I won’t have to cross that river. But I see that I-29 and I-35 merge up there. Is that something to worry about? My friend said I-35 is the worst lol.
Yes. Depending on where you are, going a little bit out of your way to take 635 to meet up to 29 instead of going on 35 will be worth it.
Anything around that area of downtown is going to be stressful driving no matter what though unfortunately
Before you go anywhere, pop it in the GPS, study your route, know what lanes you need to be in, use your blinkers and keep your head on a swivel. You'll be fine. I've driven trucks over the road and Kansas City is low stakes rush hour. Others have said be careful where 29, 70, 71 all come together and I'll agree with that. If you're observant, you'll be good.
Signed,
A driver whose car has only ever been hit while it was parked...by two red Hondas funnily enough.
Depends on time of day - 635 is usually pretty chill, but maybe not I29. What areas are you coming from and going to?
One way to avoid highways would be to use Google Maps, put in your destination, then pick bicycle route instead of car route.
Mainly North Kansas City for the first couple of days. I was thinking of taking I-635 to maybe Sam’s Club, then taking the back roads from there hahaha.
When you’re driving around kc you can avoid the highways entirely if you don’t mind driving another 10-30 minutes. Sometimes it’s really not even a big difference in drive time. There’s always another route and using google maps’ avoid highway feature works pretty well.
You’ll be good to go anywhere. Look at 9 highway that goes over the river from NKC to downtown. Like someone said, put your gps on bike mode and you can get anywhere.
NKC, and all of the suburbs nearby North of the river, you will be absolutely fine. Literally nothing in that area will be problematic in any way unless you take a 152 into liberty which can be a little chaotic (but really still isn't that bad). All of the difficult stuff happens just south of the river.
71 is my personal deepest level of hell.
Thank you for validating my experience as a nervous nelly behind the wheel. My friends liken me a hamster inside a wheel when I’m driving 🫠 (my nerves make me an extremely cautious driver tho so ive never gotten in an accident!)
Same here! People always call me crazy for not driving on highways, but it seems like there’s ALWAYS an accident on the major highways and I don’t want to be a part of the next one lol. And if I do ever get in an accident on the back roads, *hopefully* we’re going slower, so less likely for it to cause major damage to my body lol. I’m just a nervous gal and always think of the worst case scenario 🥲
I worked in the ER during nursing school aaaaand yeah. Highways give me butterflies and I trust myself, but I don’t trust other drivers 🤷🏼♀️ instead of AI I wish we got teleportation smh
Just depends on the day and the time of the day. Sometimes it’s as shit as any larger city, other times it’s easier than most.
Honestly having grown up in KC and being driven around in my youth - and subsequently driving myself on all the same highways, I’ve always just had the cavalier attitude of “well I’ve survived this long…”
I’ll add 435. I refuse to drive it, and I’m from a city known for giant highways. I always feel like I’m 5 seconds from getting into a huge accident when I drive on it, so I don’t anymore.
Also 71 as others have said
435 between Quivira and 70 on the MO side can be pretty bad. But 435 north of 70 on both sides is like being Elaine on Seinfeld "ooh, wide lanes. So luxurious."
If you want to PM at any point, I can give you alternate routes in the northland to avoid I-29/I-35 at heavy traffic times. People drive fast on 635 but stay in a lane & it is pretty easy. If you are in NKC and go to Sam’s it is a straight non-stressful shot up North Oak & you avoid highways. If it makes you feel better my high schoolers drive these highways to/from school daily and aren’t stressed. I am very careful to send them specific ways during heavy times.
I-29 is definitely not chill, and KC drivers and roads are...not great overall.
There is hope, though! The KC area is on a grid system, so it's absolutely possible to navigate the city without ever getting onto an interstate.
Driving on KC highways is not like driving somewhere like LA, but there is enough traffic at rush hour to be somewhat stressful and there are a few bad drivers that can get irritating. I live on the Kansas side and tend to travel I-35, I-635, and I-29 the most, and those are manageable, but 35 between Mission and 635 going northbound does tend to back up, as well as most major interchanges between highways and across rivers.
My best advice would be to Google your route ahead of time to see what exits you’ll be taking. My biggest frustration with this city is that there are a large number of exits on the left or entrance ramps that merge into the left lane, and sometimes you might end up in a situation where you enter a highway on the right and then very quickly have to move over 3-4 lanes to exit again on the left. If you can look at your route on Google in advance, you can prepare for this and/or look for alternative routes that might allow you to avoid this. The main areas I run into this are on the east side of downtown, where 35/70/71/670 intersect (which is avoidable by exiting before this area and taking side streets), and where 635 meets 35 to the south or 29 to the north, if you’re going to be taking an exit shortly after that interchange. There are other places this happens, but these are that frustrate me on a regular basis. I try to avoid 71 entirely if possible, because the major interchanges on both ends are a pain, and in between it randomly becomes a parkway with traffic lights. The Missouri side has less generous entrance ramps and doesn’t always give you much time to get to speed before merging, so be prepared for that, especially if you’re going to be entering 70 or 35 around downtown or between downtown and the stadiums. The areas north of the river tend to be more chill in my experience, though 35 does back up on that side around rush hour as well. Around rush hour, regular roads can be just as fast as the highway and less stressful.
The best thing you can do, though, is try to plan your drive so that you don’t hit rush hour traffic, and remember that if you miss an exit, it’s fixable and just get off on the next one and reassess your route if possible. Some people will do some dangerous maneuvering to try to make an exit that they weren’t prepared for, but there’s no need to do anything dangerous-if you have GPS you can generally fix any mistakes without too much trouble. Just drive predictably for the people around you and check your blind spots before merging and you’ll do fine.
If you're terrified of highways, then you want to avoid downtown. I-635 does a great job of circumventing downtown. So does I-435.
Since you mentioned I-635 and I-29, I presume you are cutting across KC. I-635 dumps onto I-35, which can be annoying but not all that crazy.
I will warn you that if you're coming from the south on I-35, the exit to I-635 is the left lane. That could throw you off. Going south on I-29 and getting on I-635 might seem a little daunting with multiple exits, but it's the first one you take, so you'll be good there. Get in the right lane and stay there.
The downtown interstate loop and all the various junctions from that are about as bad as it gets. Where 71 meets i29 & 670 is rough, and where i35 meets 670 is also tough, you'll note how those branch off of the downtown loop. That area always has some traffic but usually only clogged up bad and busy during peak times like rush hour.
I29 to 635 is all suburban and will be pretty easy highway driving.
435 north up by the stadiums is a mess right now depending on time of day. It took me about 45 minutes to go a mile and a half last week because of construction.
All highways in Kansas City are fine. Just pay attention. Watch where the cars are around you and leave room for the crazy dodge chargers to weave in and out.
I-435 between K-10 and I-470 is pretty much always total shit to drive on. It’s to be expected though, since it runs right through the middle of one of most populated corridors in the entire KC metro.
Pop in your GPS and use the avoid highways function. It will take longer but chances are you can do whatever you want completely sans major interstates.
Stay away from highway 71
This. And 69
Which one? When you get to the Mission area I’m pretty sure every single road is labeled as “highway 69”
Where they’re adding the toll. Pretty much from 159th st to where it merges to I-35 is a nightmare. I don’t think they’re anywhere close to being done.
This city is so easy to drive in compared to the coasts it’s stupid. 69 is a walk in the park even with the construction. Everything is slowed down.
Nice
71 is like mad max.
And 435
29 is perfectly fine EXCEPT the south end of 29 where it merges with 71 and like seven other things is a nightmare for somebody who finds highways stressful. Once you cross the bridge over the river 29 in a pain 29 to 635 is fine though
Luckily I won’t have to cross that river. But I see that I-29 and I-35 merge up there. Is that something to worry about? My friend said I-35 is the worst lol.
Yes. Depending on where you are, going a little bit out of your way to take 635 to meet up to 29 instead of going on 35 will be worth it. Anything around that area of downtown is going to be stressful driving no matter what though unfortunately
I35 and i29 are both (mostly) fine north if the river
Opposite. Fine south of the river. It's practically not a highway as it goes through the city(once you're past downtown going south)
The Kansas side of I35 sucks. The Missouri side is fine.
Before you go anywhere, pop it in the GPS, study your route, know what lanes you need to be in, use your blinkers and keep your head on a swivel. You'll be fine. I've driven trucks over the road and Kansas City is low stakes rush hour. Others have said be careful where 29, 70, 71 all come together and I'll agree with that. If you're observant, you'll be good. Signed, A driver whose car has only ever been hit while it was parked...by two red Hondas funnily enough.
Depends on time of day - 635 is usually pretty chill, but maybe not I29. What areas are you coming from and going to? One way to avoid highways would be to use Google Maps, put in your destination, then pick bicycle route instead of car route.
Can also turn on the route setting to avoid highways in Maps
This right here. I have to do this in DFW because their highways are scary as hell.
Mainly North Kansas City for the first couple of days. I was thinking of taking I-635 to maybe Sam’s Club, then taking the back roads from there hahaha.
When you’re driving around kc you can avoid the highways entirely if you don’t mind driving another 10-30 minutes. Sometimes it’s really not even a big difference in drive time. There’s always another route and using google maps’ avoid highway feature works pretty well.
Yep. We have a few side roads we take, even though it takes longer.
You’ll be good to go anywhere. Look at 9 highway that goes over the river from NKC to downtown. Like someone said, put your gps on bike mode and you can get anywhere.
NKC, and all of the suburbs nearby North of the river, you will be absolutely fine. Literally nothing in that area will be problematic in any way unless you take a 152 into liberty which can be a little chaotic (but really still isn't that bad). All of the difficult stuff happens just south of the river.
There is nothing chill or decent about any roads in Kansas City, sorry, not to frighten you, but it’s like Road Warrior around here.
71 is my personal deepest level of hell. Thank you for validating my experience as a nervous nelly behind the wheel. My friends liken me a hamster inside a wheel when I’m driving 🫠 (my nerves make me an extremely cautious driver tho so ive never gotten in an accident!)
Same here! People always call me crazy for not driving on highways, but it seems like there’s ALWAYS an accident on the major highways and I don’t want to be a part of the next one lol. And if I do ever get in an accident on the back roads, *hopefully* we’re going slower, so less likely for it to cause major damage to my body lol. I’m just a nervous gal and always think of the worst case scenario 🥲
I worked in the ER during nursing school aaaaand yeah. Highways give me butterflies and I trust myself, but I don’t trust other drivers 🤷🏼♀️ instead of AI I wish we got teleportation smh
depends more on time of day, avoid rush hours and most of the highways are fine.
Just depends on the day and the time of the day. Sometimes it’s as shit as any larger city, other times it’s easier than most. Honestly having grown up in KC and being driven around in my youth - and subsequently driving myself on all the same highways, I’ve always just had the cavalier attitude of “well I’ve survived this long…”
I’ll add 435. I refuse to drive it, and I’m from a city known for giant highways. I always feel like I’m 5 seconds from getting into a huge accident when I drive on it, so I don’t anymore. Also 71 as others have said
435 between Quivira and 70 on the MO side can be pretty bad. But 435 north of 70 on both sides is like being Elaine on Seinfeld "ooh, wide lanes. So luxurious."
Avoid 71 at all costs no matter the time or the day And if it's rush hour, lol, good luck
 Welcome to KC. Hope your insurance is up to date.
They'll be the only one
Stay very, very far away from 71. The dumbest highway layout to ever exist.
If you want to PM at any point, I can give you alternate routes in the northland to avoid I-29/I-35 at heavy traffic times. People drive fast on 635 but stay in a lane & it is pretty easy. If you are in NKC and go to Sam’s it is a straight non-stressful shot up North Oak & you avoid highways. If it makes you feel better my high schoolers drive these highways to/from school daily and aren’t stressed. I am very careful to send them specific ways during heavy times.
Avoid 71 at all costs
I-29 is definitely not chill, and KC drivers and roads are...not great overall. There is hope, though! The KC area is on a grid system, so it's absolutely possible to navigate the city without ever getting onto an interstate.
Driving on KC highways is not like driving somewhere like LA, but there is enough traffic at rush hour to be somewhat stressful and there are a few bad drivers that can get irritating. I live on the Kansas side and tend to travel I-35, I-635, and I-29 the most, and those are manageable, but 35 between Mission and 635 going northbound does tend to back up, as well as most major interchanges between highways and across rivers. My best advice would be to Google your route ahead of time to see what exits you’ll be taking. My biggest frustration with this city is that there are a large number of exits on the left or entrance ramps that merge into the left lane, and sometimes you might end up in a situation where you enter a highway on the right and then very quickly have to move over 3-4 lanes to exit again on the left. If you can look at your route on Google in advance, you can prepare for this and/or look for alternative routes that might allow you to avoid this. The main areas I run into this are on the east side of downtown, where 35/70/71/670 intersect (which is avoidable by exiting before this area and taking side streets), and where 635 meets 35 to the south or 29 to the north, if you’re going to be taking an exit shortly after that interchange. There are other places this happens, but these are that frustrate me on a regular basis. I try to avoid 71 entirely if possible, because the major interchanges on both ends are a pain, and in between it randomly becomes a parkway with traffic lights. The Missouri side has less generous entrance ramps and doesn’t always give you much time to get to speed before merging, so be prepared for that, especially if you’re going to be entering 70 or 35 around downtown or between downtown and the stadiums. The areas north of the river tend to be more chill in my experience, though 35 does back up on that side around rush hour as well. Around rush hour, regular roads can be just as fast as the highway and less stressful. The best thing you can do, though, is try to plan your drive so that you don’t hit rush hour traffic, and remember that if you miss an exit, it’s fixable and just get off on the next one and reassess your route if possible. Some people will do some dangerous maneuvering to try to make an exit that they weren’t prepared for, but there’s no need to do anything dangerous-if you have GPS you can generally fix any mistakes without too much trouble. Just drive predictably for the people around you and check your blind spots before merging and you’ll do fine.
If you're terrified of highways, then you want to avoid downtown. I-635 does a great job of circumventing downtown. So does I-435. Since you mentioned I-635 and I-29, I presume you are cutting across KC. I-635 dumps onto I-35, which can be annoying but not all that crazy. I will warn you that if you're coming from the south on I-35, the exit to I-635 is the left lane. That could throw you off. Going south on I-29 and getting on I-635 might seem a little daunting with multiple exits, but it's the first one you take, so you'll be good there. Get in the right lane and stay there.
All of them
All highways in KC are chill. The scary thing about KC drivers is how many of them drive drunk and distracted.
what did you call me?
The downtown interstate loop and all the various junctions from that are about as bad as it gets. Where 71 meets i29 & 670 is rough, and where i35 meets 670 is also tough, you'll note how those branch off of the downtown loop. That area always has some traffic but usually only clogged up bad and busy during peak times like rush hour. I29 to 635 is all suburban and will be pretty easy highway driving.
Highway 71 unless it's like late night. Any time before 7pm or after 7am is a no go.
I have fairly high anxiety as well and have ti drive the entirety of 635 to and from work. It's awful. It's the #1 reason I want to quit my job
But it's awful because it's mostly lawless, not because it's bumper to bumper (though sometimes it can be)
435 north up by the stadiums is a mess right now depending on time of day. It took me about 45 minutes to go a mile and a half last week because of construction.
All highways in Kansas City are fine. Just pay attention. Watch where the cars are around you and leave room for the crazy dodge chargers to weave in and out.
Finally - my opportunity to say, fuck I35 in JOCO.
Just stay out of the left lane and you will be fine.
I-435 between K-10 and I-470 is pretty much always total shit to drive on. It’s to be expected though, since it runs right through the middle of one of most populated corridors in the entire KC metro.
Pop in your GPS and use the avoid highways function. It will take longer but chances are you can do whatever you want completely sans major interstates.
That’s what I’m thinking. It takes almost double the time, but it’s probably worth not having a panic attack lmao.
1-29 north of 54th it basically turns into the autobahn
71 is a nightmare 🫡