Iowa Highway 60 (Iowa 60) 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 ...

that ran from the

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state line near

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, where it continued as Route 5, to U.S. Highway 18 (US 18) near Wesley. The highway passed through Centerville,

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, and Webster City during its trek. It was an original state highway that was in service for 48 years. The highway originally only extended from Des Moines to Goldfield, but was extended in 1931. At that time, it absorbed Iowa Highway 6. On January 1, 1969, the highway ceased to exist. The

Iowa State Highway Commission The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) is the government organization in the U.S. state of Iowa responsible for the organization, construction, and maintenance of the primary highway system. Located in Ames, Iowa, DOT is also responsi ...

renumbered several state highways in order to match up route numbers with adjacent state highways. It was replaced by Iowa 5 south of Des Moines and Iowa 17 north of

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Route description

Iowa 60 entered the state as a continuation of Route 5. It headed northeast through

and then curved to the north towards Centerville where it intersected Iowa 2. It then continued north through

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and into Albia. There, it intersected US 34 on the south side of town and Iowa 137 on the north side. North of Albia, the highway took a northwesterly route through Lovilia and

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and into

. At Main Street in Knoxville, it met

Iowa 92 Iowa Highway 92 (Iowa 92) is a state highway that runs from east to west across the state of Iowa. Iowa 92 is long. It begins at the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, where it is a continuation of Nebraska Highway 92. It stretches across ...

and the two highways headed west together through the city. They turned north on Roche Street for a couple blocks before turning west again on Pleasant Street. They met Iowa 14 a few blocks south of the

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. Just south of Pleasantville, the two highways split as Iowa 92 headed west, Iowa 60 north, and Iowa 181 headed south towards Melcher and

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. Iowa 60 continued northwest through Pleasantville and

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. Just to the north of

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, the highway came up from the south to a four-way intersection with Iowa 46, which formed the northern leg. A gravel road was the eastern leg and northbound Iowa 60 took the western leg. As the highway entered

it headed due west on Army Post Road, on which it intersected US 65 / US 69. Near the

Des Moines Airport Des Moines International Airport is a commercial service airport 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Des Moines, the capital of Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the ...

, it met Iowa 28. The road continued west until it reached

I-35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

near the

Raccoon River The Raccoon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 26, 2011 tributary of the Des Moines River in central Iowa in the United States. As measured using the longes ...

. From that interchange, Iowa 60 followed I-35 north along the western side of the

Des Moines metro area The Des Moines metropolitan area, officially known as the Des Moines–West Des Moines, IA Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is located at the confluence of the Des Moines River and the Raccoon River. Des Moines serves as the capital of the U.S ...

I-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 ...

joined I-35 / Iowa 60 in

West Des Moines West Des Moines is a city in Polk, Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the ...

. Iowa 60 split away from the Interstate Highways at the Rider Corner, a large bend where I-35 / I-80 turned to the east.

Iowa 64 Iowa Highway 64 (Iowa 64) is a state highway that runs through two counties in east central Iowa. It begins at an interchange with U.S. Route 151 (US 151) in Anamosa and ends at the Dale Gardner Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Miss ...

, which had been following I-80 from the east, also turned off at the corner;

Iowa 141 Iowa Highway 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 Des Moines. It also serves as a freeway link between Des Moines and the outlying com ...

also began at the corner. The three highways headed north together until Iowa 64 turned west at

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. Near

, Iowa 60 split away to the north while Iowa 141 continued northwest towards

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. From Granger, Iowa 60 headed north over 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 through

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, where it met Iowa 89. After passing through

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, it met US 30 at an interchange. It continued north toward Stanhope, where it briefly overlapped Iowa 175. In downtown Webster City, US 20 joined up with Iowa 60 and the two highways headed west through the town. Between Webster City and Duncombe, Iowa 60 turned north. After passing through Eagle Grove, it met Iowa 3 in Goldfield. A couple miles later, Iowa 60 turned north toward Renwick and Corwith. Iowa 60 ended at an intersection with US 18 just northeast of Wesley.

History

Primary Road No. 60 was an original

that extended from

to Goldfield. The highway began at the corner of Grand Avenue, which carried No. 2, and 6th Avenue in downtown Des Moines. In 1926, when the

U.S. Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

came into being, No. 2 became U.S. Highway 32 (US 32) and No. 60 became Iowa 60. In 1931, the highway was extended at both ends. To the south, it was extended to the

state line, absorbing all of what had been known as Iowa 6. The renumbering of US 32 to US 6 that year necessitated the Iowa 6 route number change. At the north end, a new road was built from Goldfield to US 18 near Wesley. Overall, Iowa 60's route remained largely the same for the rest of existence. The only major route changes occurred through the Des Moines area. When the route was extended southward in 1931, it followed US 6 east to US 63 near the

Iowa State Fairgrounds The Iowa State Fairgrounds is located on the east side of Des Moines, Iowa. It annually hosts the Iowa State Fair in late summer. The state fair was begun in Iowa in 1854 and the current fairgrounds were established in 1886. The fairgrounds wer ...

where it picked up the former Iowa 6 routing. In the early 1950s, Army Post Road on Des Moines's south side was extended east to Iowa 60. When that road opened, Iowa 60 was rerouted onto it and US 65 / US 69 north to University Avenue. Iowa 46 replaced Iowa 46 north of Army Post Road to the state fairgrounds. After the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

came into being and

and

were completed through Des Moines, Iowa 60 was rerouted again west on Army Post Road to I-35 and north onto a new

routing. Iowa 415 was created to replace most of Iowa 60 from Des Moines to near

. On January 1, 1969, Iowa 60 ceased to be. The Iowa State Highway Commission renumbered several state highways, including Iowa 60, in order to match route numbers to those in neighboring states. The following changes affected Iowa 60: *Iowa 4 was renumbered Iowa 39 *Iowa 17 was renumbered Iowa 4 to match

Minnesota State Highway 4 Minnesota State Highway 4 (MN 4) is a highway in southwest and west-central Minnesota, which runs from Iowa Highway 4 at the Iowa state line (near Dunnell, MN and Estherville, IA), and continues north to its northern terminus at its interchange ...

*Iowa 33 was renumbered Iowa 60 to match

Minnesota State Highway 60 Trunk Highway 60 (MN 60) is a highway in southern Minnesota, which runs from Iowa Highway 60 at the Iowa state line (at Bigelow) and continues east-northeast to its eastern terminus at the Wisconsin state line (at Wabasha), where the route ...

*Iowa 60 north of Granger was renumbered Iowa 17 *Iowa 60 south of Des Moines was renumbered Iowa 5 to match

Missouri Route 5 Missouri Route 5 is the longest state highway in Missouri and the only Missouri state highway to traverse the entire state. It is part of a three state, 650 mile highway 5. To the north, it continues into Iowa as Iowa Highway 5 and to the south ...

*Iowa 60 between Des Moines and Granger was deemed an unnecessary duplication and removed

Major intersections

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iowa Highway 60 (1920-1968) 060 Transportation in Appanoose County, Iowa Transportation in Marion County, Iowa Transportation in Warren County, Iowa Transportation in Polk County, Iowa Transportation in Boone County, Iowa Transportation in Webster County, Iowa Transportation in Wright County, Iowa Transportation in Des Moines, Iowa