Iowa Highway 15 (Iowa 15) is a north–south

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in northern

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. It is long. The southern end of Iowa 15 is east of

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

at an intersection with

Iowa Highway 3 Iowa Highway 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 long. Iowa 3 begins at the South Dakota state line where it continues as South Dakota Highwa ...

. The northern end is at the

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

border, where the highway continues north as

Minnesota State Highway 15 Minnesota State Highway 15 (MN 15) is a highway in south-central and central Minnesota, which runs from Iowa Highway 15 at the Iowa state line and continues north to its northern terminus at its interchange with U.S. Highway 10 outside of Sarte ...

near

Fairmont, Minnesota Fairmont is a city in and the county seat of Martin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 10,487 at the 2020 census. History Fairmont was platted in 1857. The city was so named on account of its elevated town site. A post office ...

. Prior to 1969, the route was known as Iowa Highway 44; it was renumbered to match the highway in Minnesota.

Route description

Iowa Highway 15 begins east of Pocahontas at

. It goes north for to Rolfe, then begins to go northeast in a stairstep manner for until crossing the West Fork of the

Des Moines River The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...

and into Humboldt County west of Ottosen. It then turns north onto the Palo Alto County/ Kossuth County border for and passes through West Bend. It continues north for to the Whittemore area, where there is a one-mile (1.6 km)

overlap Overlap may refer to: * In set theory, an overlap of elements shared between sets is called an intersection, as in a Venn diagram. * In music theory, overlap is a synonym for reinterpretation of a chord at the boundary of two musical phrases * Ove ...

with

U.S. Route 18 U.S. Route 18 (US 18) is an east–west U.S. highway in the Midwestern United States. The western terminus is in Orin, Wyoming at an interchange with Interstate 25. Its eastern terminus is in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, US 18 run ...

, where it fully enters Kossuth County. It goes north to Fenton, continues north for , and then turns west for , where it enters Emmet County. Near

Ringsted Ringsted is a city located centrally in the Danish island of Zealand. It is the seat of a municipality of the same name. Ringsted is situated approximately 60 km from Copenhagen. Tourism and transport Ringsted is one of Denmark's busiest ...

, it turns north again for and meets

Iowa Highway 9 Iowa Highway 9 is the most northern of Iowa's east–west highways, traversing the entire northern tier of counties. It runs from the eastern terminus of South Dakota Highway 42 at the South Dakota border east of Sioux Falls, South Dakota near ...

Armstrong Armstrong may refer to: Places * Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places Antarctica * Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands Argentina * Armstrong, Santa Fe Australia * Armstrong, Victoria Canada * Armstrong, British Columbia * Armstrong ...

. Iowa 9 and Iowa 15 overlap each other for two blocks before Iowa 15 turns north into Armstrong. Highway 15 leaves Armstrong to the east; east of town, it turns north and ends at the Minnesota border later.

History

Parts of what is now Iowa Highway 15 were originally primary roads designated in 1926. Primary Road 44 extended from Primary Road 10, now

to Rolfe, while Primary Road 43 extended from

to the

state line. By 1947, Iowa Highway 44 had been created along the same route Iowa 15 now occupies. In 1969, then-Iowa Highway 44 was redesignated as Iowa Highway 15 to match

at the state line.

Major intersections

References

{{Attached KML 015