The city of Iowa City wants to explore the idea of re-designating Iowa Highway 1 so that it bypasses the metro area rather than goes through town. Changing the route would stop the 85-year-old state highway from running through the heart of Iowa City. Those streets would remain open; they just wouldn’t be part of Highway 1.
The article also has a shout-out to Jason Hancock’s site:
Highway 1 was designated in 1926, according to the Iowa Highways Page website, whose accuracy a DOT spokeswoman vouched for.
A bypass that used US 218 and I-380 would be a very out-of-the-way path for IA 1 to follow. Also potentially complicating this issue is that the very segment of IA 1 being discussed is also the only segment of the route that is part of the National Highway System (the red roads on current maps).