July 23, 2009: This intersection, and the road ahead, will look very different at the end of this decade.
For assorted reasons, I never got around to making a blog post about the planned relocation of IA 31, but now that the Sioux City Journal has an article about it, I should go ahead and post.
The plans have been available since last July. A new road will be created for IA 31 just west of present Aspen Street, on the west side of Correctionville, and meet US 20 at the present west L36 intersection (in the background behind the car in the picture). There will be a short 20/31 multiplex on a five-lane road, and then 31 will continue north on its present route.
Correctionville will take over old 31, including a slight jog at the survey correction line that gives the town its name, and Woodbury County will take a quarter-mile east-west section that has been part of the state highway system since it began.