SOUTH
(July 1, 1980-February 2004)
SOUTH End: Toll bridge, St. Francisville MO, Lee County IA/Clark County MO
Working north
Highway 394 may have been the best-signed Iowa highway in Missouri. All of my pictures were taken south of the border. This map shows how things stood before 2001:
Facing north on 61 (12/30/01)
1) Here, US 61 goes northeast (right), to join US 136 and head into Keokuk. To the right, a sign reads "North 61/East 136". However, this is technically incorrect. So is this sign. This is not 136 proper, but rather a spur. However, Missouri doesn't sign it as such; northbound, it's marked "West 136", southbound, "South 61". This means two separate stretches of road have signs for both 61 and 136. After MO 27 cut into part of the spur's alignment, though, the pseudo-duplexes were removed.
Facing north on Spur 136 (12/30/01)
2) The intersecting road is 136 proper.
Facing east on 136 (12/30/01)
3) This is only a quarter-mile east of the above picture. The white car is on County B, which goes north to meet 394. Just to the right of the red vehicle you can make out a post with shields for both 61 AND 136, although they don't technically intersect for six more miles. Now, only a 136 shield is there, and MO 27 is in the background of this picture.
Photo by Jason Hancock (ca. 2000)
This picture more clearly shows the sign on the right.
Facing north on B (12/30/01)
As it turned out, this road didn't become part of the Avenue of the Saints; MO 27 carved out a new alignment that left the two-lane on the west side (except for near the state line, where the old road jumps to the east side).
Facing north on B, at the toll booth (12/30/01)
The toll was 50 cents until a new bridge was built for IA 27, and then the toll booth closed.
Facing north (12/30/01)
In December 2001, this is what the bridge and first sign looked like.
End South 394/End South 27
Facing south on 394/27 (6/5/02)
Photos by Neil Bratney
In December 2001 and up until at least March 2002, there were no IA 27 signs beyond 394's north end. By the end of 2004, the 394 designation was dropped with the opening of some new four-lane segments.
Facing south on 27/394 (7/12/16)
On September 6, 2016, the old bridge was closed after MoDOT bridge inspectors raised concerns about the support piers.
To the IA 27 page (including more pictures of the old bridge)
Page created 3/3/02; last updated 4/15/07 3/19/17