Category Archives: Construction

US 6 through the Des Moines metro area, and especially from Merle Hay Road to Altoona, can be a slog. But it remains an important corridor through Des Moines’ neglected north side. Unfortunately, the proposed solution for redevelopment of the … Continue reading →

US 30 is now four lanes around Mount Vernon and Lisbon, completing a bypass that goes just to the south of those towns. The official opening was Friday — a classic right-before-Thanksgiving completion. The bypass extends the continuous four-lane from … Continue reading →

The plans for last week’s meeting about expanding I-380 to six lanes between US 30 and I-80 are online (south PDF, north PDF, handout). Stories: Gazette, KGAN. The most notable part of the proposal is diverging diamonds at the County … Continue reading →

The Iowa DOT is holding a meeting next Tuesday (Nov. 6) in North Liberty to “discuss an Interstate 380 corridor study”. The notice mentions six-laning the interstate between I-80 and US 30 (years too late) and “interchange improvements.” At the … Continue reading →

As part of either converting US 30 to a freeway between Ames and Nevada or at least reducing the number of intersections, the R70 intersection east of I-35 is going to be turned into an interchange. There is a meeting … Continue reading →

KWWL reports that the overpass for US 63 over the railroad tracks north of downtown Waterloo will open next month. I can’t embed the video. Plans for the overpass were put forth at the end of 2013 and construction began … Continue reading →

Weather has slowed down construction of the US 30/218 interchange in Benton County and it’s not going to open until next year, KCRG reported last week. The five-year plan had all the construction set in fiscal 2018 but it has … Continue reading →

The Iowa DOT says that Olde Davenport Road’s connection to US 61/151 will be closed permanently this week, and a month later, the new interchange between 61/151 and the Southwest Arterial will open. (The Southwest Arterial itself, however, will not … Continue reading →

The first segment of interstate highway to open in Iowa was not signed as an interstate highway. Recent research from Jason Hancock has revealed that when the Combination Bridge interchange in Sioux City opened at the end of 1957, there … Continue reading →

After considering the possibilities for upgrading the two-lane stretch of US 30 between Lisbon and De Witt, the DOT appears to be settling on…a two-lane stretch of US 30 between Lisbon and De Witt. In a public meeting on the … Continue reading →