Iowa Highway 16
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Iowa DOT | ||||
| Length: | 65.488 mi[1] (105.393 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end: |
  US 34 / CR V43 near Agency | |||
  US 218 / Iowa 27 near Houghton | ||||
| East end: |
    US 61 / Great River Road at Wever | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties: | ||||
| Highway system | ||||
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Iowa Highway 16 (Iowa 16) is a state highway running from west to east in southeastern Iowa. The highway has a length of 65.18 miles (104.90 km). The western terminus of Iowa Highway 16 is at an intersection with U.S. Highway 34 (US 34) between Agency and Batavia. The eastern terminus is located at Wever at an intersection with US 61.
Route description
Iowa 16 begins at an interchange with US 34 three miles (4.8 km) east of Agency in Wapello County. It heads south along a two-lane road where it passes the campus of Cardinal School District. The highway jogs to the east and then back to the south before it arrives in Eldon. Upon entering Eldon, the road turns to the southeast in order to follow the course of the Des Moines River; the roadway runs roughly parallel to the river until Selma. On the east side of Eldon, tourists are directed to the American Gothic House, made famous by the painting by Iowa artist Grant Wood. Southeast of Eldon, the road clips the northeastern corner of Davis County as it runs through the river's floodplain to Selma. Now in Van Buren County, it passes a quarry and then turns to the east. The highway meets Iowa 98 north of Douds. The road goes through a series of curves that take it further south until it straightens out near the northern intersection with Iowa 1.[2]
The two highways briefly overlap between Birmingham and Keosauqua; Iowa 16 turns off of Iowa 1 to continue east. Once it enters Lee County, the highway takes a sharp curve to the south and then another sharp curve to the east. It runs due east through Houghton and then meets the four-lane US 218 / Iowa 27, the Avenue of the Saints highway, at an at-grade intersection. The road continues its general east-and-south path through Denmark. The highway ends at an intersection with US 61 between Wever and the Skunk River.[2]
History
The current version of Iowa Highway 16 is the second occurrence of the route number in the state; the route number first occurred on a highway that was decommissioned in 1930 and ran between the Minnesota and Missouri state lines.[3]
Major intersections
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wapello | Pleasant Township | 0.000 | 0.000 | US 34 / CR V43 north – Ottumwa, Mount Pleasant | ||||
| Davis |
No major junctions | |||||||
| Van Buren | Village Township | 15.015 | 24.164 |   Iowa 98 south / CR V64 north – Leando, Libertyville | ||||
| Lick Creek–Union township line | 22.465 | 36.154 |  Iowa 1 north – Fairfield | Western end of Iowa 1 overlap | ||||
| Van Buren Township | 24.679 | 39.717 | Iowa 1 south – Keosauqua | Eastern end of Iowa 1 overlap | ||||
| Lee | Marion Township | 45.777 | 73.671 |  US 218 / Iowa 27 – Mount Pleasant, Keokuk | ||||
| Green Bay Township | 65.488 | 105.393 | US 61 / Great River Road – Burlington, Fort Madison | |||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
- 1 2 "2009 Volume of Traffic on the Primary Road System of Iowa" (PDF). Iowa Department of Transportation. January 1, 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
- 1 2 Google (May 21, 2014). "Iowa Highway 16" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
- ↑ "1928 Map - Historical Iowa Transportation Maps" (PDF). Iowa Department of Transportation. Iowa Department of Transportation. Retrieved 12 July 2014.