Iowa Notes

[iowahighways]

The September Iowa Transportation Commission meeting included an item "Transfer of Jurisdiction of Frontage/Access Roadways along Iowa 461 in Davenport".  What specific roads are these, and are they being transferred to or from state control? I wish the detailed agendas were available on the website before the meetings.

I'm wondering if they're the frontage roads between 59th Street and 65th Street/Veterans Memorial Parkway. (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/41.5836/-90.5717). They were built around the time the one-ways south of 59th opened, in the spring of 1984.

[iowahighways]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ssoworld/albums/72177720311211585

Proof.  This contains both old and new versions of the signs. Signs were replaced both on 61/151 and on 20. They did not replace all of the signs - particularly some of those around Grandview Ave (both on 20 and 61) along with the one leading to Kerper Blvd in Wisconsin - this is possible due to who maintains them (I would suspect IowaDOT maintains the Kerper one, but I can also assume for the Grandview Ave/61 interchange, these not-so-BGSs might be city installed.  No activity has taken place since early August.

Nice photos. I'm surprised the Greyhound Park is still signed even though it closed last fall. (The casino linked to it is still open.)

[pianocello]

The September Iowa Transportation Commission meeting included an item "Transfer of Jurisdiction of Frontage/Access Roadways along Iowa 461 in Davenport".  What specific roads are these, and are they being transferred to or from state control? I wish the detailed agendas were available on the website before the meetings.

I'm wondering if they're the frontage roads between 59th Street and 65th Street/Veterans Memorial Parkway. (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/41.5836/-90.5717). They were built around the time the one-ways south of 59th opened, in the spring of 1984.

Either that or the frontage roads along W. River Dr (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/41.50271/-90.63378). I think it's more likely the ones on Brady St, though. In either case, it's almost certainly a transfer from the state to the city.

[SSOWorld]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ssoworld/albums/72177720311211585

Proof.  This contains both old and new versions of the signs. Signs were replaced both on 61/151 and on 20. They did not replace all of the signs - particularly some of those around Grandview Ave (both on 20 and 61) along with the one leading to Kerper Blvd in Wisconsin - this is possible due to who maintains them (I would suspect IowaDOT maintains the Kerper one, but I can also assume for the Grandview Ave/61 interchange, these not-so-BGSs might be city installed.  No activity has taken place since early August.

Nice photos. I'm surprised the Greyhound Park is still signed even though it closed last fall. (The casino linked to it is still open.)

And I found yesterday that they reinstalled the 65mph limit on 61 north to the SW Arterial (used to end at the old entrance to the airport for over a decade and a half)

[JREwing78]

And I found yesterday that they reinstalled the 65mph limit on 61 north to the SW Arterial (used to end at the old entrance to the airport for over a decade and a half)

That's definitely a recent change; it was posted for 55 as recently as July.

[paulthemapguy]

Does anyone know if the Iowa section of Abbott Drive in Carter Lake is still a state highway?  Is it still Iowa 165 even though recent GSV imagery shows the Iowa 165 markers having been removed?  I took photos of both of the trailblazers at each beginning of the short state highway back in February 2016-- they have since disappeared.  Photos are of the northern beginning and the southern beginning, respectively.


IA-165NTSR by Paul Across America, on Flickr


IA-165UN by Paul Across America, on Flickr

[Duke87]

Pottawattamie County map on Iowa DOT's website still shows it. And it's dated 1/1/2023. So yeah, still exists on paper, just no longer signed.

Interestingly the signs do not appear to have been removed at the same time: the northbound one disappeared between June 2019 and August 2021. The southbound one was still there in November 2022 but gone in May 2023.

Both signs, the post they were on disappeared with them so the removals were probably deliberate, but who knows. The southbound one was in a bunch of bushes that also got removed with it.

[triplemultiplex]

Took US 30 between Marshalltown and Cedar Rapids this week on the way back home from Denver and it looks like they'll have the last four lane gap filled by this time next year.  When they do, that will makes US 30 a very attractive alternate to I-80 for me moving forward.  Coming from Wisconsin, I will now be able to get to Des Moines and beyond on all four lane with way, way, way fewer trucks and other traffic with about the same travel time.  It's a much more relaxing drive.

Still a slowdown by that casino west of Toledo and the run of stoplights leaving Des Moines on US 65.  But everything else is pretty great. No worse than the signals one has to traverse in Dubuque or Marion. I think that will become my default path on any trip heading that general direction.

East Mixmaster construction is in full swing.  Especially the new NB I-35 ramp.  Seems like the biggest interchange project in Iowa since they overhauled the 29/80 commons in Council Bluffs.

[iowahighways]

The September Iowa Transportation Commission meeting included an item "Transfer of Jurisdiction of Frontage/Access Roadways along Iowa 461 in Davenport".  What specific roads are these, and are they being transferred to or from state control? I wish the detailed agendas were available on the website before the meetings.

I'm wondering if they're the frontage roads between 59th Street and 65th Street/Veterans Memorial Parkway. (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/41.5836/-90.5717). They were built around the time the one-ways south of 59th opened, in the spring of 1984.

And I just found out that those were indeed the roads being transferred: https://iowadot.gov/commission/pdf/September-2023-Minutes.pdf

[Revive 755]

So the Avenue of the Saints now has three active speed cameras in Lee County:  https://www.wgem.com/2023/12/28/six-speeding-cameras-place-lee-county-fines-begin-jan-1/

[kphoger]

So the Avenue of the Saints now has three active speed cameras in Lee County:  https://www.wgem.com/2023/12/28/six-speeding-cameras-place-lee-county-fines-begin-jan-1/

Granted, I haven't been on AotS in Lee County since the second carriageway was still under construction (stayed in Donnellson, attended a wedding in Houghton) . . . but I seem to recall there being a whole lot of nothing around there.

[Fredddie]

So the Avenue of the Saints now has three active speed cameras in Lee County:  https://www.wgem.com/2023/12/28/six-speeding-cameras-place-lee-county-fines-begin-jan-1/

Granted, I haven't been on AotS in Lee County since the second carriageway was still under construction (stayed in Donnellson, attended a wedding in Houghton) . . . but I seem to recall there being a whole lot of nothing around there.

Can confirm that the only think worth seeing on the AotS in Lee County is that big red fireworks building in Missouri that you can see five miles out.

[roadman65]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qjrTZ3NQ5RbLcUrKA
Is US 20 Business along Gordon Drive in Sioux City been decommissioned?

[iowahighways]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qjrTZ3NQ5RbLcUrKA
Is US 20 Business along Gordon Drive in Sioux City been decommissioned?

No. That sign originally had IA 12 on it until 2000; Business 20 was never signed there at all. Gordon Drive is still considered part of IA 12 but is only signed as Business 20.

That interchange is currently being reconstructed from an incomplete cloverleaf into a diamond interchange.

[iowahighways]

I got word that US 30 between County Road V44 south of Keystone and the interchange with US 218 opened to four lanes on June 6. As for the last five miles of two-lane between IA 21 and V44, traffic is now on the future eastbound lanes with grading going on for the new westbound lanes.

[triplemultiplex]

I know I've said this before, but US 30 and IA 330 have become a much more attractive route for me to get between Wisconsin and Des Moines and points west and south versus I-80.  The order of magnitude less traffic makes it a leisurely drive at basically the same speed, minus a couple slow downs.

80 is such a zoo with oodles of trucks slow passing each other, putzy RV's, and speed freaks who ride your ass if you're not doing 90.
It's become my default to go via Marshalltown already.  The last segment getting done this fall will seal the deal.

[CtrlAltDel]

So the Avenue of the Saints now has three active speed cameras in Lee County:  https://www.wgem.com/2023/12/28/six-speeding-cameras-place-lee-county-fines-begin-jan-1/

Granted, I haven't been on AotS in Lee County since the second carriageway was still under construction (stayed in Donnellson, attended a wedding in Houghton) . . . but I seem to recall there being a whole lot of nothing around there.

Can confirm that the only think worth seeing on the AotS in Lee County is that big red fireworks building in Missouri that you can see five miles out.

A law was passed last month limiting these cameras. I don't know though if it's retroactive in effect.

[Plutonic Panda]

I-35/I-80 Interchange project is kicking off: https://www.kcci.com/article/major-renovation-project-set-to-transform-interstate-35-80/62009960?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3wYBljVfBdOOpVe5opaaVdp7T7sISQ3YRIUUrDnMi-sgZ3rvPhDKgWGUQ_aem_l_4g61myUG0JorTbst9fpg&ai=

[SSOWorld]

I-35/I-80 Interchange project is kicking off: https://www.kcci.com/article/major-renovation-project-set-to-transform-interstate-35-80/62009960?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3wYBljVfBdOOpVe5opaaVdp7T7sISQ3YRIUUrDnMi-sgZ3rvPhDKgWGUQ_aem_l_4g61myUG0JorTbst9fpg&ai=

and this is Iowa getting its first 4-level stack. One more than Illinois and Indiana combined.

Side note: Just getting started?  It's been under construction for the bulk of the year already!

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Iowa's new law affecting speed cameras took effect this month, with mixed results. Almost all of the state's stationary cameras were ruled improper under the new law and must be shut off. However, the majority of permits for mobile cameras were approved.

The use of speed cameras is also temporarily paused in some locations while required warning signage is installed.

https://www.iowapublicradio.org/state-government-news/2024-10-01/traffic-speed-cameras-automated-enforcement-iowa-dot

[Fredddie]

I-35/I-80 Interchange project is kicking off: https://www.kcci.com/article/major-renovation-project-set-to-transform-interstate-35-80/62009960?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3wYBljVfBdOOpVe5opaaVdp7T7sISQ3YRIUUrDnMi-sgZ3rvPhDKgWGUQ_aem_l_4g61myUG0JorTbst9fpg&ai=

and this is Iowa getting its first 4-level stack. One more than Illinois and Indiana combined.

Side note: Just getting started?  It's been under construction for the bulk of the year already!

The WB I-80 to NB I-35 ramp is open.  The EB flyover has concrete barriers, so I have to assume that's coming in the next few weeks.

[mvak36]

I-35/I-80 Interchange project is kicking off: https://www.kcci.com/article/major-renovation-project-set-to-transform-interstate-35-80/62009960?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3wYBljVfBdOOpVe5opaaVdp7T7sISQ3YRIUUrDnMi-sgZ3rvPhDKgWGUQ_aem_l_4g61myUG0JorTbst9fpg&ai=

and this is Iowa getting its first 4-level stack. One more than Illinois and Indiana combined.

Side note: Just getting started?  It's been under construction for the bulk of the year already!

The WB I-80 to NB I-35 ramp is open.  The EB flyover has concrete barriers, so I have to assume that's coming in the next few weeks.

I was confused as well so went through the Iowa DOT website to figure out which is which.

The link posted above was for this project (Exit 125): https://iowadot.gov/dsminterstates/Hickman-Road-Interchange/Hickman-Road-Interchange-Construction

There are projects happening (or will start in the next couple of years) at the 2 Mimxaster interchanges: https://iowadot.gov/dsminterstates/Northeast-Mixmaster/Northeast-Mixmaster-Construction and https://iowadot.gov/dsminterstates/Southwest-Mixmaster/Southwest-Mixmaster-Construction

It appears the Southwest Mixmaster project has won a grant from the USDOT, but I haven't seen a list of projects from the USDOT yet.

[Fredddie]

Oh right. That's what I get for not clicking links.  The US 6 interchange is a level 19 clusterfuck mostly because of a truck stop in the SW quadrant.  This is what I know is going on along I-35/I-80 just from living here:

• Both mixmasters being fixed/replaced
• Widening to (at least) four lanes per direction (several bridges need to be replaced)
• US 6 DDI
• Replacing gantries

It also looks like the University Avenue interchange will lose its access to and from the mixmaster side of I-80, but I don't know how far along design is for that project.

[pianocello]

It also looks like the University Avenue interchange will lose its access to and from the mixmaster side of I-80, but I don't know how far along design is for that project.

It only looks like that because the GIS map in the above link isn't drawn that great.

There's going to be some kind of braiding setup, per the Public Information Meeting handout:
https://iowadot.gov/pim/documents/041124-interstate3580235-handout.pdf

[iowahighways]

I got word that the last segment of US 30 in Benton County opened to four lanes on October 15.

Also, a new interchange on US 30 at County Road R70 east of Ames opened October 14 -- and that opening actually got a news release from the Iowa DOT: https://www.news.iowadot.gov/newsandinfo/2024/10/new-interchange-on-us-30-at-580th-avenuestory-county-road-r-70teller-avenue-between-ames-and-nevada-.html