Thanksgiving week traditionally means the end of Iowa’s construction season. This year, that’s being marked with the opening of the US 18/218 interchange in Floyd today and tomorrow. The DOT has a press release and the Charles City Press has a story.
For a year, traffic has been head-to-head using the future eastbound ramps while the other half of the interchange was finished. The opening converts a 2-mile segment to a full freeway, including the closure of Packard Avenue to the southeast.
The eastbound exit sign for US 18 is already up, although the placement of the arrow in the lower right instead of underneath throws off the visual balance of the entire thing. Even though Osage would be a backtrack for eastbound 18 traffic, I think it should have been included as a second destination. It’s nice that T44 is signed but the only place it goes is back to US 18/218 at the north end of the Charles City business route.