Stories from the Burlington Hawk Eye and KWQC. Maps are, as usual, at the DOT’s PIM site (look for Sept. 6).
Just north of Burlington, the four-lane would eliminate the slight winds, then depending on the location run immediately east or immediately west of the present two-lane. Just south of the Louisa County line, the four-lane would diverge and run a short distance east of the current route to an interchange with IA 78/H22 east of the present intersection.
The sticking point is Mediapolis. It and Wapello are the only two towns where 61 still rolls through as a two-lane city street. There are three options (links to PDFs):
- Diverge from the current alignment one mile south and north of town, with an interchange at H38 west of town.
- Diverge from the current alignment one mile south and north of town, with half-interchanges to the old alignment at either end and bridges over H38.
- Five lanes through Mediapolis on current alignment.
Of these options, the last is the worst. It’s just a bad idea to dump a four-lane expressway onto a surface street. The situation with US 20 in Lawton, where four lanes have been restriped into three with miles of expressway on either side, is one to learn from. The single interchange at H38 is by far the best way to do this.