|
Interstate 380
|
Length: 73 miles/117 kilometers
Northern terminus: The intersection of Mitchell Avenue and Washington
Street (US 218) in Waterloo
Southern terminus: I-80 (exit #239) near Coralville
Terminus photos
Counties: Black Hawk, Buchanan, Benton, Linn, Johnson
Cities along route: Waterloo, Evansdale, Elk Run Heights, Raymond, Brandon, Urbana, Center Point, Robins, Hiawatha, Cedar Rapids, Swisher,
Shueyville, North Liberty, Tiffin, Coralville
Exit lists: Entire route
Multiplexes:
1½ miles with US 218 between the northern terminus and US 20
in Waterloo.
71 miles with IA 27, between the US 20/218 interchange in
Waterloo and the southern terminus at I-80; this includes a 6-mile triplex with
US 20 east of Waterloo (between exits #65 and #71) and a 16-mile
triplex with US 218 between US 30 (exit #16) and I-80 (exit #0).
|
|
History
|
|
September 19, 1973: First segment, from I-80 to the Cedar Rapids airport exit (#13),
then IA 84, opened
December 16, 1975: Segment between 5th Avenue SW and 33rd Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids
opened
June 25, 1976: Segment between 33rd Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids and the airport exit opened
June 11, 1979: Segment between 5th Avenue and 7th Street NE in Cedar Rapids opened
December 4, 1981: Segment between 7th Street NE and Glass Road/32nd Street NE in Cedar Rapids opened
November 17, 1982: Segment between Glass Road/32nd Street and Boyson Road in Hiawatha opened
August 9, 1984: Segment from Mitchell Avenue in Waterloo to the end of the US 20 multiplex
opened
August 14, 1984: Segment from Hiawatha to IA 150 near Urbana opened
September 12, 1985: Last segment, between US 20 and IA 150, opened
|
|
Notes
|
|
Iowa's newest Interstate was a result of the 1968 expansion of the
Interstate system; the I-380 number was approved by AASHTO on June 23, 1969. As was the case with I-35, a group of area farmers opposed the proposed diagonal routing. An alternate alignment following US 20 and IA 150 was rejected by transportation commissioners in 1972, as was one along an abandoned railroad line in 1976. (The railroad right-of-way became the Cedar Valley Nature Trail instead.) After three years of litigation, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis gave the Iowa DOT the go-ahead to build it in a December 1979 ruling. Budget problems delayed its completion in the early 1980s, but I-380 was finally
completed in 1985 to cut the travel time between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids by half
an hour. This marked the end of 27 years of Interstate highway construction
in Iowa.
I-380 was supposed to have gone all the way through downtown Waterloo
into Cedar Falls, under an extension that had been approved in 1974, but the
city of Waterloo decided to participate in the Interstate Substitution Program
(which allowed for the transfer of Interstate funds into other projects in the area)
instead. The Federal Highway Administration approved the substitution plan on
November 25, 1981. The freeway north of downtown Waterloo, which was completed in 1992,
was signed as US 218 instead; a six-lane at-grade boulevard connects this with I-380's
northern terminus.
A new interchange with Tower Terrace Road in Hiawatha opened on June 22, 2023.
Reconstruction of the interchange with I-80 and I-380 to replace all of the cloverleaf loops with flyover ramps was completed with the opening of the last two ramps on August 30, 2023.
Widening of the segment of I-380 through North Liberty to six lanes is programmed for 2024 through 2026, while widening of the segment between US 30 and County Road F12 near Swisher is programmed for 2025. Both segments are part of a long-term plan to widen I-380 between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
|