Iowa Highway 85 (Iowa 85) is a short
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 east-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 ...
. The route begins at the eastern city limit of
Montezuma and ends at
Iowa 21 east of
Deep River. Created in 1920 as a
spur route
A spur route is a short road forming a branch from a longer, more important road such as a freeway, Interstate Highway, or motorway. A bypass or beltway should not be considered a true spur route as it typically reconnects with another or the s ...
connecting
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, ...
to
Primary Road No. 2, it is an original route in the
Iowa primary highway system
The primary highway system makes up over , approximately 8 percent of the U.S. state of Iowa's public road system. The Iowa Department of Transportation is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the primary highway system, which consists o ...
. In the early 1930s, the route was extended north to Deep River and west to Montezuma. By the end of the decade, Iowa 21 had taken over the north–south portion of the route. Except for both endpoints shifting slightly, Iowa 85 has largely stayed the same since the 1930s.
Route description
Iowa 85 begins at the eastern
city limit
City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate limi ...
of
Montezuma. It heads east through the rolling farmland of
Poweshiek County. Near the midpoint of the route, it intersects County Road V18 (CR V18). As it approaches
Deep River, the route briefly curves to the north-northeast before turning to the southeast. The terrain becomes hillier as the route crosses a creek leading to the
eponymous river just north of Deep River.
On the south side of Deep River, Iowa 85 turns back to the east. It ends east of Deep River at an intersection with
Iowa 21.
History
Primary Road No. 85 was created in 1920 with the advent of Iowa's primary highway system. At the time, it was a short
spur route
A spur route is a short road forming a branch from a longer, more important road such as a freeway, Interstate Highway, or motorway. A bypass or beltway should not be considered a true spur route as it typically reconnects with another or the s ...
connecting
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, ...
to
Primary Road No. 2 in
Keokuk County
Keokuk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 10,033. The county seat is Sigourney.
History
Keokuk County was formed in 1837. It was named for the eponymous chief of the Sa ...
.
In 1931, Iowa 85 was significantly lengthened north to Deep River and west to
US 63 in Montezuma.
In 1939, the route was shortened to its east–west section between Montezuma and Deep River as
Iowa 21 was extended and it supplanted Iowa 85 south of Deep River.
Iowa 85 was paved in the mid-1950s; until then, the highway had been a
gravel road
A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the Unite ...
.
In the early 1960s, Iowa 21 was straightened through Keokuk County near
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 ...
and Deep River. This caused the eastern end of Iowa 85 to move east back to the point where it had turned into an east–west route in the 1930s.
The route would remain this way for nearly thirty years. In 1994, the westernmost of Iowa 85 was turned over to the City of Montezuma. The route now begins at the eastern city limits. Along US 63, signs at the former intersection of Iowa 85 now say "To Iowa 85".
Major intersections
References
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