October 13, 2006: IA 92’s entry from Illinois
In a couple of weeks, IA 92 will be rerouted around the Muscatine bypass and down Park Avenue to continue into Illinois. This means that the route will not have any independent segment east of Grandview, but the four-state number continuity will remain. I asked a DOT district engineer what the plan was for IA 38, since the number would no longer be needed south of the bypass. He said the 38 designation would remain down to the bridge, as seen above. (IA 92 will turn right instead of left.)
That means Iowa will have its second highway quad-plex: Park Avenue running south from US 61 to Washington Street will carry eastbound IA 22, eastbound IA 92, southbound IA 38, and southbound Business 61. South of there, it will be IA 38/92 plus Business 61 to the bridge. The north part of the bypass itself will have the triplex of US 61 and IA 22/92.
Keeping IA 38 down to its current end point could be a paperwork issue as much as anything, since the documentation for Park Avenue projects can still be filed under 38. It was redundantly signed down from the northeast corner of Muscatine from the mid-1930s to 1969, too. Or it could be that this keeps one number signed north-south on a north-south street. Regardless, 38’s end won’t be changed as part of 92’s reroute.