Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

September 8, 2010

Iowa Highway 98, a road that serves little purpose except to provide a state-maintained bridge across the Des Moines River to the unincorporated village of Leando*, was the only spur highway that was not decommissioned on July 1, 2003.** That bridge is scheduled to be replaced this year — and after that happens, the DOT is interested in turning the route over to Van Buren County. The Ottumwa Courier has the story.

The county supervisors are hoping for $1.5 million per mile for 1.8 miles ($2.7 million total) because the rest of IA 98 will need to be repaved. The sticking point, as always, will be money.

The Courier quotes Supervisor Tom Nixon as saying, “I realize in 50 years I won’t be sitting here, but 50 years ago, the DOT gave us the Bonaparte bridge.” That is not quite true. The existing Bonaparte bridge (part of the original incarnation of IA 79) was built in 1960, but was not turned over to the county until 1980.

 April 1, 2010

IA 152, created in 1980, is a short but winding road connecting the interstate to US 69 north of Osceola. Its bridge over I-35 is also scheduled for replacement this year. However, the county may take over the road before that happens. The Osceola Sentinel-Tribune has that transfer story, with a twist: The DOT put out feelers about rerouting US 69. The story does not say how far south the move to I-35 would have been carried out — US 34? Van Wert? All the way to Lamoni? — but it is an echo of an idea floated in 1980, when the state looked at moving a significant portion of 69 onto I-35. Then and now, though, the state kept US 69 on its mostly two-lane route.

The IA 152 process may be further ahead than IA 98, as the article says there is a “tentative deal” that Clarke County would get $2.5 million instead of the state spending $2.746 million this year and next to replace the bridge and repave IA 152. (It’s also possible the bridge could be replaced with state money and then turned over, costing the state a little more money but then it’s done dealing with the road.)

At the beginning of 2014, IA 152 and IA 98 are respectively the state of Iowa’s second- and fourth-shortest state highways, and fifth- and seventh-shortest state-maintained roads overall. Will they still be around next year? We’ll have to wait and see.

*The 2010 census tallied up populations for a whole bunch of unincorporated towns as “Census-Designated Places.” Leando had a population of 115 and Douds had a population of 152, making them bigger than literally dozens of Iowa cities.

**IA 316 was transformed into a spur in 2003. As it so happens, its bridge across the Des Moines River is scheduled to be replaced next year.

I’ve cleared out the “proposed” section of the Fort Dodge Business 20 page, and replaced it with a lot of pictures of the new interchange at the west end. My previous rough sketch, based on the DOT’s 2005 proposal, ended up remarkably close to the final result.

I also added a couple pictures to the IA 926/Business US 169 page. Most notably, the sign facing south on 169 at the Business 20 intersection still points to Fort Dodge on the left (east), but no longer has a distance.

The IA 2 page has a paragraph reflecting the recent changes in Fort Madison.