Near the beginning of July 2022, a closure of IA 3 in Dubuque County began. The official detour runs all the way from Luxemburg to Dubuque via US 20 and will last two years although the road will be open during winter. This project has been in the works for a long time. In 2018, when this very large PDF compilation of maps was released, construction was anticipated in 2020. By early 2019, it was pushed to 2021.
Earlier in 2022, a public meeting was held on reconstructing IA 3 from Sageville to a point northwest of Boy Scout Road. The maps with that project share an interesting trait with other blueprints of this road in the DOT archives: They’re upside down. That is to say, north is on the bottom. I believe there’s a simple explanation for this: The map series are designed to run from south to north, whether that was for IA 20, US 55, or US 52 until the Southwest Arterial opened in 2020. From Sageville to Luxemburg, that meant going from east to west.
The Driftless Area topography here challenges both engineers and drivers. The closest competition for “most un-Iowa-like highway in Iowa” is IA 76, especially the part north of Waukon.
Before I could look into the history of the Sageville road, I had to answer a question: Where is Gillespie Hill?
Gillespie Hill is a landmark in the Dubuque County area, and referenced often. Fortunately, to find it, a couple of links pop up early in a search. One is to a DOT press release in 2011: “The restriction is necessary for guardrail construction on U.S. 52 from milepost 56 to milepost 57, which is in the Gillespie Hill area.” On a mile marker map of Dubuque County, US 52 mile marker 58 is approximately the intersection with Boy Scout Road. (The present project is replacing those with IA 3 mile markers.) The road goes to Camp Burton, which is the BSA’s Northeast Iowa Council’s summer camp. The NEIC serves Allamakee, Clayton, Delaware, and Dubuque counties, plus Jo Daviess County in Illinois. The lodge at the camp was rebuilt in 2021.
Another location helper was a comment on a vintage aerial photo: “Hwy 3 (US 52) and Boy Scout Road. ‘The foot of Gillespie Hill’.” This intersection, right by a fork of the Little Maquoketa River, has been a division point for highway construction projects.
The nearest free newspaper archive is the Cascade Pioneer, which fortunately covered construction all across rural Dubuque County. Excerpts below are from there.
Commissioners named to appraise valuations on property abutting the north No. 20 paving project from Luxemburg to the foot of Gillespie hill and assess costs approximating 12 1/2 percent on valuations against the improvement here have completed their work… The project is divided into two sections and is being rushed to completion as fast as possible and in keeping with the weather conditions. (11/11/26)
Supplies have been placed to insure completion of this stretch of road despite weather conditions to Hess’ corners, where pavement over nearly a four-mile stretch is already in and open to traffic. …[C]ontractors will then work out of Durango to complete the remainder of the 15-mile paving project to the foot of Gillespie hill. Contractors state that the project will be completed on or before the contract date of August. (2/24/27)
The 1927 state map shows a paved stretch in the Rickardsville area, concurrent with the “nearly four-mile stretch” mentioned above. It’s a bit hard to spot because Rickardsville did not become an incorporated town until 1964 or appear on the state map until 1967. But it was in that late 1926 segment that IA 20, which became US 55 at that time, bypassed St. Joseph’s Drive through the town. It’s not until the 2022 project, though, that intersections at either end are being reconfigured to be T’s rather than Y’s. Google Street View happened to go through the area at the right time and clearly shows the end of the complete rebuild with concrete half-shoulders vs. the old asphalt with gravel half-shoulders.
Said the Pioneer on August 25, 1927:
Paving of a 15-mile stretch of primary road on north highway No. 55, from the foot of Gillespie hill to Luxemburg, was completed by the Harrison Engineering and Construction company Monday morning, the last batch being poured at 11:30 o’clock. The project, costing approximately $454,414.32, was started in August last year. … The highway will probably be formally open to traffic in September…
…and then Dubuque County ran out of money.