The state of Iowa is served by over 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of primary roads. The roads are spaced out evenly across the state, with clusters of primary roads near population centers.
System information
Notes
Primary highways in Iowa are generally state-maintained.
Highway names
Interstates
Interstate X (I-X)
US Highways
U.S. Highway X (US X)
State
Highway X (IA X or Iowa X)
System links
Iowa Primary Highway System
Interstate
US
State
Secondary
Scenic
The primary highway system makes up over 9,000 miles (14,000 km), approximately 8 percent of the U.S. state of Iowa's public road system. The Iowa Department of Transportation is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the primary highway system, which consists of Interstate Highways, United States Highways, and Iowa state highways. Currently, the longest primary highway is U.S. Highway 30 at 332 miles (534 km). The shortest highway is Interstate 129 at 0.27 miles (430 m).
The 20th century was a transformative time for vehicular transportation. In the early years of the century, roads were problematic at best – dusty dirt roads when dry and impassably muddy when wet. Over time, federal money was set aside and bonds were issued allowing the roads to be paved. The U.S. Highway and Interstate Highway Systems connected Iowa to the rest of the country and made national travel feasible. Periodically, new highway construction and changing driving habits have resulted in the obsolescence of local highways, to which the primary highway system has adapted. The former primary highways, turned over to counties and local jurisdictions, county highways, and farm-to-market roads make up the secondary highway system.
Early on, Iowa's registered routes were marked with hand-painted signs created by the group maintaining the highways. When the primary highway system was created, prisoners in Iowa's correctional system began making highway signs. Today, Iowa's highway markers are compliant with standards set forth in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
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The primaryhighwaysystem makes up over 9,000 miles (14,000 km), approximately 8 percent of the U.S. state of Iowa's public road system. The Iowa Department...
major highways that were on the secondary system, which is made up of all rural roads not on the primaryhighwaysystem. At the time, the Iowa Code provided...
State highways in the U.S. state of Iowa are owned and maintained by the Iowa Department of Transportation. 2012 Volume of Traffic on the Primary Road...
the Iowa Department of Transportation and individual county boards of supervisors led to a mass transfer of jurisdiction of several state highways in Iowa...
president, making Iowa 1 one of the oldest routes in the state, pre-dating the current primaryhighwaysystem by nearly eighty years. The highway was seriously...
IowaHighway 2 (Iowa 2) is a 251-mile-long (404 km) state highway which runs across the southernmost tier of counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. At no...
which passes through Iowa's "Little Switzerland" region. The Iowa 150 designation has been a part of the primaryhighwaysystem since its inception in...
IowaHighway 471 (Iowa 471) is a state highway that is located entirely within Sac County. It was designated in November 2015 when a 20-mile (32 km) portion...
IowaHighway 60 (Iowa 60) is a north–south state highway in northwest Iowa. The highway runs at a southwest-to-northeast angle. The southern end of Iowa...
IowaHighway 90 (Iowa 90) was a state highway in central Iowa. The highway was in service to traffic from 1932 through 1981 and took several forms over...
IowaHighway 141 (Iowa 141) is an east–west highway in the western and central portions of the state. It is the most direct link between Sioux City and...
transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. In Iowa, the highway travels west to...
IowaHighway 92 (Iowa 92) is a state highway that runs from east to west across the state of Iowa. Iowa 92 is 279 miles (449 km) long and is part of a...
spur route connecting What Cheer to Primary Road No. 2, it is an original route in the Iowaprimaryhighwaysystem. In the early 1930s, the route was extended...
IowaHighway 3 (Iowa 3) is a state highway that runs from east to west across the state of Iowa. It is the longest state highway in Iowa, at 323 miles...
IowaHighway 412 (Iowa 412) was a state highway in Waterloo, Iowa. It began at U.S. Highway 63 (US 63) in southwestern Waterloo and traveled to the east...
IowaHighway 28 is a 21.73-mile-long (34.97 km) state highway located in south central Iowa. The route begins at IowaHighway 92 at Martensdale and ends...
IowaHighway 14 (Iowa 14) is a state highway that runs from north to south across the state of Iowa for 188 miles (303 km). The begins in Corydon at an...
Iowa 9 southeast of Larchwood. The highway has been in the primaryhighwaysystem since 1930, when it was known as Iowa 26. On January 1, 1969, Iowa 26...
IowaHighway 330 (Iowa 330) is a 47-mile-long (76 km) state highway that travels northeasterly from Altoona past Albion, to just north of Marshalltown...
through northern Iowa, Iowa 107's role in the primaryhighwaysystem began to diminish. Portions of the route were removed from the system altogether. In...
IowaHighway 163 (Iowa 163) is a state highway that travels from U.S. Highway 69 in Des Moines to US 63 near Oskaloosa. The Iowa Department of Transportation...
IowaHighway 175 (Iowa 175) is a main east–west route in the northern portion of the state. The highway has a length of 221 miles (356 km). Iowa Highway...
IowaHighway 12 (Iowa 12) is a 46.212-mile-long (74.371 km) state highway that runs from north to south in northwestern Iowa. The highway begins in eastern...
IowaHighway 10 (Iowa 10) is a state highway that runs 104+1⁄2 miles (168.2 km) across the state of Iowa. It begins where South Dakota Highway 46 crosses...
IowaHighway 4 (Iowa 4) is a state highway which runs from north to south across the state of Iowa. It is 146 miles (235 km) long, beginning at an intersection...
Global Information
