The Iowa DOT will hold a meeting in Toledo on Thursday to discuss the plan to four-lane US 30 in eastern Tama County.
It won’t be completed for years, but the first step is acquiring right-of-way. The project statement says an all-new four-lane will be built north of the existing lanes, which will be removed “with the exception of some minor areas where the existing roadway may be used as a frontage road.” This indicates that Alternative 3 shown in June 2011 was the final selection, which was far enough north the old road can remain. The four-lane will take out whatever’s left of the extinct village of Gladstone and negate the need for a bridge over the old railroad grade.
Building four all-new lanes while eliminating the existing roadbed has gained traction in Iowa recently. The new plans for US 61 north of Burlington have a mixture of that (PDF) and leaving old 61 as a frontage road (PDF) with the exception of a couple intersections where the road will “bow out”. (The closest analogue to the latter is in central Illinois, where I-55 was built right beside US 66, except overpasses are involved there.)
(There is also a meeting the night before in Le Grand regarding two miles of IA 146 in and south of town, including replacement of the bridge over the railroad.)