The DOT meeting about US 61 in Wapello, which I referred to earlier this week, has been scheduled for April 24. The project information is already online (PDF).
In that writeup we learn a little more about US 61 in the area. The present alignment of US 61 was built in 1932; prior to then it came into Wapello from the south on J Avenue, crossed the Iowa River on the bridge that later was added to IA 99, and went to Grandview on I Avenue. (IA 252 was a legacy of this.) It was widened in 1955 and then widened again in 1996.
The four-lane would split from the current alignment a mile and a half north of Wapello, bypass to the west, and rejoin present US 61 at the short diagonal near J Avenue. With the through-town option eliminated, there are two bypass+interchange options left. The nearer, straighter option runs right over two farmsteads on G62.
There is no timetable for the project right now; it’s not in the current five-year plan.