End of Iowa 214

(January 8, 1931-July 1, 2003)

NORTH End: Just north of 1st St., Wellsburg, Grundy County

Facing east on D25 (3/23/02)

Highway 214 does/did NOT end at D25 in the middle of Wellsburg, but rather a few blocks north. In 1960, a request from the city of Wellsburg caused a minor shakeup of many spurs in the state. At the time, 214 ended farther south, and the city wanted the state to extend the route. The Highway Commission decided to create a uniform policy that all spurs would extend to "the far end of business sections", causing some routes to grow by a few blocks. In 1980, many of these tiny extensions were dropped and routes truncated to the outer city limits (see, for example, IA 198).

Facing north on 214 (3/23/02)

Highway 214 does not end at any street, but rather where railroad tracks used to run. The first sign south is on the left.

Facing north on 214 (7/7/15)

Facing south on 214 (3/23/02)

To the left and right of this crop is a strip of blank land, where the railroad was. The intersection with D25 is at the top of the hill. Since this photo was taken, the left side now has a Casey's, built there for easy access from new 20 to the north.

Facing north on 214 (7/7/15)

Facing south on 214 (3/23/02) / Same sign, 13 years later (7/7/15)

An identical sign (except for the 175 font) appears on 299 north of New Providence.

Surrounding area information: US 20 construction (March 2002)

Facing southwest (3/23/02)

Photo by Neil Bratney

Facing northwest (3/23/02)

Photo by Neil Bratney

In March 2002, the bridge supports for the ramps on the west side of the road and for 20 itself were up. (At T19, 20 will be the road over; at S56, the road under.) A small stream (Beaver Creek, I believe) runs just west of T19; it's sort of surprising the DOT didn't decide to forgo a standard diamond and go with a folded one instead to avoid building two bridges.

SOUTH End: Stop sign, IA 175, Grundy County