Iowa Highway 21 (Iowa 21) is a

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 ...

that runs from north to south in central

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 has a length of . Iowa 21 begins at

Iowa 149 Iowa Highway 149 is a highway which runs from south to north in Iowa. It has a length of . Iowa 149 begins at U.S. Highway 34 in Ottumwa and ends at Williamsburg at Interstate 80. The first of Iowa 149 are overlapped by U.S. Highway 63 Busi ...

west of

Hedrick Hedrick may refer to: * Hedrick, Indiana * Hedrick, Iowa * Hedrick, Missouri * Hedrick (surname) {{Disambig ...

and ends at a freeway interchange with U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) in Waterloo.

Route description

Iowa 21 begins one mile (1.6 km) west of Hedrick and goes north through

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

before intersecting Iowa 92. It proceeds through

What Cheer What Cheer (pronounced 'WOT-cheer') is a city in Keokuk County, Iowa, United States. It is a former coal town, and from the 1870s to the early 1900s was one of the major coal-producing centers of Iowa. Its greatest recorded population was 3,246, ...

before intersecting Iowa 22 west of Thornburg. It continues north to Deep River where it intersects Iowa 85. After passing through

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

, it then intersects

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

, then meets US 6. It overlaps with U.S. 6 going eastward, then turns north near

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

. It then intersects Iowa 212 before entering Belle Plaine, then intersects US 30. It goes north to Dysart, where it turns west, overlapping with Iowa 8. It then turns north and ends at US 20 at the southern city limit of Waterloo.

History

The current version of Iowa 21 is the second occurrence of the route number in the state. The first one went north from Ida Grove to 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 and was eventually replaced by US 59. The current Iowa 21 was created in October 1934 and went between Victor and Dysart. It was extended south in 1939 to from Victor to Iowa 92, north from Dysart to U.S. 20 in Waterloo in 1969, and south again from Iowa 92 to Iowa 149 in 1980.

Major intersections

References

{{Attached KML 021