U.S. Route 59 in Iowa

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This article is about the section of U.S. Route 59 in Iowa. For the entire route, see U.S. Route 59.

US 59 near Northboro
Major intersections
North end
US 59 near Bigelow, Minn.
Location
CountryUnited States
StateIowa
Counties
Highway system
← Iowa 58→ Iowa 60

U.S. Highway 59 (US 59) is a

United States Highway that transverses the western third of Iowa. It begins at the Missouri state line southwest of Northboro and travels north in a zigzag pattern through Shenandoah, Avoca, Denison, and Cherokee. It ends at the Minnesota state line east of Bigelow, Minnesota
. The highway was designated in 1934, though a concerted effort of community officials along today's route sought to bring a U.S. Highway to their cities for several years prior to US 59's creation.

Route description

US 59 enters the state in southeastern

one-quadrant interchange that joins US 59 and US 34 as the two routes do not meet directly.[2][3]

The highway continues north on a straight line to

West Nishnabotna River from there to Hancock. The highway has a short jog to the east and then returns to its northern course and into Avoca. In Avoca, the highway meets Iowa 83, which heads east toward Walnut and Atlantic. Prior to 2003, Iowa 83 continued west to Minden, but that roadway is now known as County Road G18 (CR G18). On the northern end of town, there is an interchange with I-80.[2][3]

Buildings and structures around Ida Grove have a castle motif

North of I-80, US 59 enters

Boyer River, Iowa 39 intersects the two highways. Just beyond the city limits of Denison, Iowa 141 splits off to the west as US 59 remains on a northwestern vector.[2][3]

South of Schleswig, the highway straightens out to the north and stays in that direction until it reaches Iowa 175 east of Ida Grove. As the highways enter Ida Grove, there is an 8-acre (3.2 ha) manmade lake featuring a half-scale replica of HMS Bounty. The ship was commissioned by Ida Grove resident Byron Godbersen (1925–2003), who owned a manufacturing business in Ida Grove. Godbersen also built a few buildings and structures in a castle motif in order to stoke pride in the community.[4] US 59 splits away from Iowa 175 on the outskirts of Ida Grove and heads north to US 20 near Holstein. The two roads overlap each other for about a mile before US 59 turns to the north once again.[2][3]

North of Holstein, the highway continues north, intersecting

section lines in Minnesota.[3] US 59 enters Minnesota about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of where Iowa 60 crosses the state line. The two roads join up and continue north to Worthington, Minnesota.[2]

History

In 1985, the Iowa Department of Transportation catalogued named auto trails and published a map showing the paths of the most famous trails in the state. The vast majority of the current or historical routing of US 59 was not utilized by an auto trail.[5] In 1919, the Iowa General Assembly passed a bill that created a fund for improving and hard-surfacing nearly 6,300 miles (10,100 km) of primary roads in the state. The primary road system was to connect every city and town with at least 1000 inhabitants.[6] The bill gave Iowa's 99 counties the responsibility for maintaining the roads, which had previously fallen upon road associations that sponsored their respective highways.[7] The new primary roads were assigned route numbers, a trend seen in other Midwestern states. Route numbers were painted onto telegraph and telephone poles in order to guide travelers without the need for maps.[8]

Until the creation of Iowa Highway 73 in 1934, there was no one route that corresponded to US 59 today. Prior to that highway, the roadway was signed

U.S. Highway 73 routed through their communities. In 1931, the northern end of US 73 was at Nebraska City, Nebraska. The Highway 73 Commission sought to have US 73 routed across the Missouri River into Iowa, east to Sidney, and then north through Iowa, ultimately ending at Lake of the Woods on the Canada–United States border.[9]

In early 1934, in order to attract the attention of the

US 73W. These branches were replaced by US 69 and US 59, respectively. US 59 was chosen to be routed along the Highway 73 corridor through Iowa and to Lake of the Woods.[15]

Though the Iowa State Highway Commission had declared Iowa to be "out of the mud,"[16] when US 59 was designated, it was mostly a gravel road. Only 55 of 230 miles (89 of 370 km), mostly between Avoca and Denison, were paved and 21 miles (34 km) between Shenandoah and Emerson was an unimproved dirt road.[17] Paving was completed in piecemeal fashion and finally completed in 1960.[18][19] The only major change to the route in recent years occurred in 1971 when a 15-mile (24 km) section between Harlan and Defiance was shifted west by one mile (1.6 km).[20]

Major intersections

CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
US 59 south – Tarkio
Continuation into Missouri
1.1701.883 CR J64 –
Iowa 333
Fremont–Page
county line		Shenandoah11.20418.031 Iowa 2 – Sidney, Clarinda
13.21121.261
 Iowa 48 north
Iowa 184
Fremont
 No major junctions
One-quadrant interchange
Iowa 244
Iowa 362
Two-quadrant interchange
Belknap Township49.18379.152
 US 6 west – Council Bluffs		Southern end of US 6 overlap
Oakland51.59083.026
 US 6 east – Atlantic		Northern end of US 6 overlap
Avoca64.075103.119

 Iowa 83 east / CR G18 west – Walnut, Minden
65.542105.480 I-80 – Council Bluffs, Des Moines
ShelbyHarlan75.842122.056 Iowa 44 – Harlan, Portsmouth
Westphalia–Union
township line		84.928136.678
 Iowa 37 west – Earling, Dunlap
CrawfordWashington Township93.992151.265
 Iowa 141 east – Manilla, Manning		Southern end of Iowa 141 overlap
Denison101.139162.767
 US 30 west – Dunlap		Southern end of US 30 overlap
101.617163.537
 US 30 east – Carroll		Northern end of US 30 overlap
102.231164.525
 Iowa 39 north – Odebolt
Denison–Goodrich
township line		104.225167.734
 Iowa 141 west – Charter Oak		Northern end of Iowa 141 overlap
IdaCorwin–Blaine
township line		125.321201.685
 Iowa 175 east – Odebolt		Southern end of Iowa 175 overlap
Corwin Township128.973207.562
 Iowa 175 west – Battle Creek		Northern end of Iowa 175 overlap
Logan–Griggs
township line		137.839221.830
 US 20 east – Sac City		Southern end of US 20 overlap
Holstein139.206224.030
 US 20 west – Moville		Northern end of US 20 overlap
CherokeeSilver Township150.335241.941
 Iowa 31 south – Quimby
Iowa 977
159.904257.341 Iowa 3 – Marcus, Pocahontas
Iowa 388
173.563279.323
 Iowa 10 east – Sutherland		Southern end of Iowa 10 overlap
Union–Liberty
township line		178.437287.167
 Iowa 10 west – Paullina		Northern end of Iowa 10 overlap
Franklin–Lincoln
township line		192.444309.709
 US 18 east – Spencer		Southern end of US 18 overlap
Sanborn193.440311.312
 US 18 west – Sanborn		Northern end of US 18 overlap
Iowa 313
East Holman–Wilson
township line		210.472338.722 Iowa 9 – Ocheyedan, Little Rock
US 59 north – Worthington
Continuation into Minnesota
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Notes

  1. ^ Comparison of 1933 and 1934 state highway maps in Minnesota and Iowa.[10][11][12][13]

References

  1. ^
    ESRI shapefile
    )    . Ames: Iowa Department of Transportation. April 9, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e Google (November 9, 2020). "U.S. Highway 59 in Iowa" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Iowa Department of Transportation (January 1, 2020). Transportation Map (PDF) (Map). Approx. 1:570,240. Cartography by Iowa Department of Transportation. Ames. §§ C2–D8. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  4. ^ "Castles – Ida Grove". idagroveia.com. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  5. ^ Iowa Department of Transportation (1986). Iowa Registered Highway Routes 1914–1925 (PDF) (Map). Iowa Department of Transportation. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  6. ^ "Iowa's new road law provides pay-as-you-go plan for improving and hardsurfacing 6,278 miles of highway". Service Bulletin Supplement March–April 1919. VII (3–4). Iowa State Highway Commission: 3. 1919. Retrieved May 15, 2016 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ "Iowa Registered Routes". Iowa Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  8. ^ "Iowa primary roads to be marked with official standard symbol and number July 12 to 17". Service Bulletin May–June 1920. VIII (5–6). Iowa State Highway Commission: 3. 1920. Retrieved May 15, 2016 – via Google Books.
  9. Newspaperarchive.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ 1933 Map of Trunk Highway System (Map). Cartography by McGill–Warner Company. Minnesota Highway Department. April 1, 1933. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  11. ^ 1934 Map of Trunk Highway System (Map). Cartography by McGill–Warner Company. Minnesota Highway Department. May 1, 1934. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Iowa State Highway Commission (January 1934). State of Iowa Transportation Map (PDF) (Map). Ames: Iowa State Highway Commission. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  13. ^ a b Iowa State Highway Commission (August 1934). State of Iowa Transportation Map (PDF) (Map). Ames: Iowa State Highway Commission. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  14. ^ "National Road Through Iowa". Sioux City Journal. November 23, 1934. p. 4. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  15. American Association of State Highway Officials. p. 252. Retrieved November 10, 2020 – via Wikimedia Commons
    .
  16. ^ Iowa State Highway Commission (1931). State of Iowa Transportation Map (PDF) (Map). Ames: Iowa State Highway Commission. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  17. ^ Iowa State Highway Commission (1935). State of Iowa Transportation Map (PDF) (Map). Ames: Iowa State Highway Commission. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  18. ^ Iowa State Highway Commission (1960). State of Iowa Transportation Map (PDF) (Map). Ames: Iowa State Highway Commission. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  19. ^ Iowa State Highway Commission (1961). State of Iowa Transportation Map (PDF) (Map). Ames: Iowa State Highway Commission. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  20. ^ U.S. Route Numbering Subcommittee (June 21, 1971). "U.S. Route Numbering Subcommittee Agenda Showing Action Taken by the Executive Committee" (PDF) (Report). Washington, DC: American Association of State Highway Officials. p. 8. Retrieved November 10, 2020 – via Wikimedia Commons.

External links

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U.S. Route 59
Previous state:
Missouri
 		Iowa Next state:
Minnesota
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