Iowa Highway 394 (Iowa 394) was 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 ...

in Lee County in southeastern

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 began on a toll bridge to St. Francisville, Missouri, over the Des Moines River and ended at

U.S. Highway 218 U.S. Highway 218 (US 218) is an original United States Highway that was created in 1926. Although technically a spur of U.S. Route 18, US 18, US 218 neither begins nor ends at US 18, but overlaps US 18 for near Charles C ...

(US 218) south of Donnellson. The highway was in service from 1980 to 2005. It was replaced by Iowa 27 as part of the larger Avenue of the Saints corridor project.

Route description

Iowa 394 began on a toll bridge over the Des Moines River. To the south, the highway continued into St. Francisville, Missouri, and Clark County as Route B. The highway headed due north out of the river valley and into Argyle, where it had a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

with the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

that also carries Amtrak's ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff ...

''. The highway continued due north for a few miles until it reached

US 218 U.S. Highway 218 (US 218) is an original United States Highway that was created in 1926. Although technically a spur of US 18, US 218 neither begins nor ends at US 18, but overlaps US 18 for near Charles City, Iowa. US ...

south of Donnellson.

History

Iowa 394 was added to the primary highway system on July 1, 1980. In 1991, Iowa 394 was identified as part of the Avenue of the Saints corridor, which was envisioned as a high-speed highway connecting

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, and

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

. Through the late 1990s and early 2000s, construction occurred on the new four-lane Avenue of the Saints highway. In August 2001, the Iowa Department of Transportation gave the corridor a single route number — Iowa 27 — in order to aid drivers navigating the route. Shortly thereafter, signs for Iowa 394 were removed from Iowa 27 south of US 218. While signs were removed in 2001, Iowa 394 still existed on paper until March 15, 2005. At the same time, the portions of the highway that were not bypassed by the new four-lane highway were re-designated as Iowa 460.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML *Morrison, Jeff
"South end of Iowa 394"
''Iowahighwayends.net''.

394 __NOTOC__ Year 394 (CCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Western Europe as the Year of the Consulship of Flavianus without colleague (or, less ...

Transportation in Lee County, Iowa