Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

“The Iowa Department of Transportation is requesting your input on a for a proposed roundabout at the intersection of Iowa 3 and Iowa 143 near Marcus in Cherokee county,” says the press release, incorrectly not capitalizing “County” at the end.

The title is a rhetorical question, of course. Construction is planned for the entirety of calendar year 2026. Feedback is wanted by Friday.

It is true that clutter in the area has grown. My pictures at 143’s south end from 2004 and 2009 are very out of date in that respect. The Shell that wasn’t there in 2004 is now a larger Casey’s. A small motel is just to the east of the intersection now.

But…a roundabout? Do you have to?

Three years ago, when I wrote about Cedar Rapids wanting to replace the Eighth Avenue bridge, I cited a 2019 Gazette story that mentioned an estimated cost of around $30 million for the bridge and $50 million overall.

Last week, Cedar Rapids got a crucial amount of federal money to build a new bridge. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing $56.4 million of a $76.1 million overall estimated cost, the Gazette reports. The new bridge, rather than being supported by multiple piers underneath, would be a cable-stayed bridge with one pier going into the water that also towers high in the air.

While much of the recent attention on interstate construction in Des Moines has been related to the northeast mixmaster, the southwest mixmaster isn’t being neglected.

A meeting on April 11 in Des Moines will take another step forward in turning the southbound I-35 to eastbound I-235 exit into a flyover ramp from its current inner loop.

Inklings of the plan first appeared in May 2022 when the 2023-27 five-year plan was released. More attention came last year when KCCI did a story about it.

The flyover ramp project is related to the I-35 to IA 141 flyover project in the sense that both are driven by suburban growth west of that 141/35 corridor. Traffic coming in from northwest Urbandale on Douglas Avenue or Grimes on 141 needs to go east on I-235 to go downtown, and the latter needs the 141 flyover on the way home.