As reported almost three weeks ago by the Cedar Valley Daily Times, DOT engineers favor an interchange over a J-turn for US 30/218 in Benton County. The ramps in the northwest and southeast corners of the intersection-turned-interchange will preserve both Youngville Station and a cemetery.
Back in December, the DOT released another ton of PDFs about four-laning 30 in the rest of Benton County, plus an interchange with IA 21. This four-lane segment ends at Salt Creek just inside Tama County.
A change from previous plans is that now the entire four-lane will be located just to the south of the existing two-lane. It’s much like the plans for US 20 in Woodbury County, where the road that runs precisely along the section line will be obliterated in favor of an all-new roadbed constructed for heavier traffic. On the micro/nit-picking level, the shift means another 12 miles of the original Lincoln Highway route will be removed forever.
These plans have been discussed and refined for years, but construction will not occur until sometime in the 2020s at the earliest.