Iowa Highway 60 (1920–1968)
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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 Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...
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,
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,
Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
, 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 respon ...
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 Granger.


Route description

Iowa 60 entered the state as a continuation of Route 5. It headed northeast through
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
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
Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
. At Main Street in Knoxville, it met Iowa 92 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 Knoxville Raceway. Just south of Pleasantville, the two highways split as Iowa 92 headed west, Iowa 60 north, and Iowa 181 headed south towards Melcher and
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. 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
Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
it headed due west on Army Post Road, on which it intersected US 65 / US 69. Near the Des Moines Airport, 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 Mexico–Uni ...
near the
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. From that interchange, Iowa 60 followed I-35 north along the western side of the Des Moines metro area.
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joined I-35 / Iowa 60 in West Des Moines. 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, which had been following I-80 from the east, also turned off at the corner; Iowa 141 also began at the corner. The three highways headed north together until Iowa 64 turned west at
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. Near Granger, Iowa 60 split away to the north while Iowa 141 continued northwest towards
Perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...
. 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 N ...
and through
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, where it met Iowa 89. After passing through Luther, 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
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 Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...
that extended from
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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
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
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 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, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...
came into being and
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 Mexico–Uni ...
and
I-80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...
were completed through Des Moines, Iowa 60 was rerouted again west on Army Post Road to I-35 and north onto a new Iowa 141 routing. Iowa 415 was created to replace most of Iowa 60 from Des Moines to near
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. 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 Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and O ...
*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 ro ...
*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. To the north, it continues into Iowa as Iowa Highway 5 and to the south it enters Arkansas as Arkansas Highway 5 as pa ...
*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