Next Tuesday in Huxley, the DOT will have a meeting about a project that’s at least 10 and probably 20 years overdue — upgrading I-35 to six lanes between Ankeny and Ames. This would be the first rural six-lane interstate in Iowa.
For the most part, the existing northbound lanes would be the new median. I suppose the new northbound lanes will be built, traffic shifted, and southbound lanes moved on to the old northbound lanes while the new southbound lanes are built. It’s a 16-mile segment but there are only two interchanges involved (the Elkhart exit and IA 210).
This is not in the five-year plan; it’s going to be a decade out still. What is in the five-year plan is six-laning I-35 between Oralabor Road and the new exit on the north side of Ankeny, which won’t be done until 2020; converting the I-35/US 30 pure cloverleaf into an interchange with flyover ramps, which are dotted out on the plans linked above; and the replacement of Skunk River bridges just south of 30, which would be built with the six-lane in mind. The only other place Iowa has planned that far ahead is at I-80 over the Cedar River.