Highway Page Updates
This is a list of updates to all of my highway pages so everyone can see what is new or what has changed since they last visited. The most recent updates are listed first.
June 19:
- A June 17 article from the Des Moines Register mentioned House File 1025 was signed into law last month. This law allows the US 65/IA 5 bypass to become part of the Interstate highway system — with the article mentioning I-435 as a potential number — by providing waivers for the US 65 segment that currently allows farm machinery and other vehicles with minimum speeds of less than 40 MPH until a new route for those vehicles can be found. However, approval from AASHTO and the Federal Highway Administration is needed before Interstate shields can be placed there. Both the US 65 and IA 5 listings, along with the Highways of Des Moines page, have been updated.
- I have updated primary route description links for state highways 100 through 299, along with the highway pages for Davenport and Iowa City. This involved changing the listing for IA 152 (II) from decommissioned to unsigned since the segment between the I-35 interchange ramps is still considered part of IA 152 despite no longer being signed.
- Exit list updates:
June 8: I have updated links to primary route descriptions for the Highways of Cedar Rapids page and for all state highways from 1 through 99.
June 1: Inspired by a recent email from Tony Smith, I added a few more proposed freeways on the Highways of Des Moines page that were first proposed in the 1990s and 2000s: a proposed western bypass that was first mentioned in 1996, and a northern bypass that was first mentioned in 2003 but has been on the backburner for a while. I also updated the primary route description links on that page.
May 29: Due to a recent redesign of the Iowa DOT's website, the primary route descriptions in the highway listings were moved elsewhere, causing broken links on this site. All links to route descriptions from the About this Site page, all Interstate highway listings (including a new route description link for I-880), and all US highway listings have been updated. Other listings will be updated as time allows.
May 10: There hasn't been a lot to update this year so far, so I added some research findings from recent years to the Highways of Des Moines page. This includes some early highway history found through newspaper articles going back to 1919 along with mentions of two "what could have been" projects from the 1970s that were canceled: a north-south freeway and an extension of IA 401 across Saylorville Dam that incorporated the eventual four-lane Oralabor Road through Ankeny. I've also added links to clippings of articles on newspapers.com whenever a newspaper article is mentioned on that page; most clippings should be visible even without a subscription.
January 20:
- Jeff Morrison has provided some research-related updates to kick off this site's 28th year online:
- IA 2 (I): The first paved segment dated back to 1916, per the Atlantic News-Telegraph of December 1, 1916. It was also diagonalized between Monroe and Otley in 1924 and straightened between Atlantic and Wiota in 1926.
- IA 2 and US 61 previously followed Avenue E in Fort Madison before moving to Business US 61's present route along Avenue H sometime in 1952 per the Fort Madison Daily Democrat of August 25, 1952.
- IA 3 (I): Two miles east of the Missouri River were paved in 1930, while the rest of the segment west of Sidney was paved in 1931.
- IA 4 (I) and IA 12 originally ended at the Missouri state line; the alignment change south of Hamburg occurred in 1928 and was paved in 1931 before becoming US 275, per the Atchison County (MO) Mail of July 3, 1931.
- IA 9: The former IA 86 (III) was originally part of IA 9, but the designation came two decades after IA 9 was relocated north of Fertile.
- IA 10: The 1932 paving ended at present-day 160th Avenue east of Peterson.
- IA 43 was paved inside Ringsted in 1939, with the remaining segment becoming bituminous after that.
- IA 96 shifted north a mile between IA 14 and present-day C Avenue in the 1948 paving.
- IA 327 followed 140th Street and 253rd Avenue.
- IA 348 followed 13th Street in Carter Lake instead of 9th Street.
- US 18 was paved from Dickens to present-day 260th Street in 1932, and paved from there to Spencer on its present alignment in 1933, per the Spencer Reporter of October 14, 1932.
- US 20 was paved through Ida County in 1936, although the relocation was approved in 1935.
- US 30: The 1928 paving excluded the north-south segment of US 30 through Logan and the Boyer River crossing; those were paved in 1930, according to the Harrison County Herald of September 25, 1930.
- US 32: Overhead railroad crossings at West Liberty, Atalissa, and Wilton were paved in 1931 instead of 1930.
- US 34: The 1929 paving east of Corning ended at present-day Orange Avenue instead of IA 49.
- US 63: The 1930 paving through Jasper County was on a new alignment that paralleled the railroad tracks through Prairie City and Monroe.
- US 71: Paving history from 1932 to 1941 was updated, particularly the last segment into Minnesota, which was completed in 1941 per the Spirit Lake Beacon.
- Exit list update: The GrimesPlex is now signed at IA 141 exit 152.
Past updates:
Back to the Iowa Highways Page
Back to Freeway Junctions of the Heartland
© 2025 by Jason Hancock