Here’s a small but interesting construction notice from the DOT: V18 at US 30 is closing today “to do concrete paving in the area.” My theory is that it’s related to the old roadbed for 30 that was bypassed with the four-lane construction (as seen here), which was mostly removed in 2022.
The area around the V18 intersection is all-four-lane now, and is so for three miles to the east where the IA 21 interchange work begins. If you look at the color county map, you can see that V18 right at 30 is colored in purple to indicate concrete while the rest of the road is asphalt. The redone E66 intersection to the west is the same way — the concrete part is what was redone for the four-lane project. The map still seems to show a bit of dead-end Q Avenue connecting the very tip of the old E66 with 30. That is not the case. (To the west of that, old 30 between the new curve of the road to the Tama exit and M Avenue is not colored in at all.)
The V18 project is expected to last two months. The biggest inconvenience is to drivers headed between Chelsea and Vining, exploring Tama County’s Bohemian Alps.