Iowa Highway 136 (Iowa 136) 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 ...

maintained by the

Iowa Department of Transportation 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 respons ...

. It runs for in eastern

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 begins at the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

in Clinton on the

Mark Morris Memorial Bridge The Mark Morris Memorial Bridge (locally called the North Bridge) is a 2 lane truss bridge across the Mississippi River in the United States. It connects the cities of Clinton, Iowa and Fulton, Illinois. The bridge may also be known as the Lyons-F ...

, where it continues as

Illinois Route 136 Illinois Route 136 is an east–west state route in northwestern Illinois. It runs from the Mark Morris Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River, connecting to Iowa Highway 136 in Clinton, Iowa, east to U.S. Route 30 east of Fulton. This is a di ...

. It ends at an interchange with U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) and US 52 in

Dyersville Dyersville is a city in eastern Delaware County and western Dubuque County in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is part of the Dubuque, Iowa, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,477 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 4,035 in 200 ...

. Although signed as a north–south highway throughout, the highway runs east to west between Clinton and Oxford Junction, while turning north at Oxford Junction to complete its run to Dyersville. For most of its existence, Iowa 136 connected Clinton and

Luxemburg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

. During the 1950s-1960s, the northern and southern ends of the route shifted slightly because nearby

United States highway 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 hi ...

s changed their alignments. The northern end of Iowa 136 shifted again in early 2022.

Route description

Iowa Highway 136 begins on the

over the

at Clinton. It descends the approach to the bridge and intersects U.S. Highway 67 (US 67), which is running along N. Second Street. It turns to the north, overlapping US 67 for until US 67 splits away at N. Third Street. From US 67, Iowa 136 goes west along Main Avenue and leaves town enters rural

Clinton County Clinton County may refer to: *Counties named for George Clinton, first and third Governor of New York, and later the fourth Vice President of the United States: **Clinton County, New York ** Clinton County, Ohio *Counties named for DeWitt Clinton, ...

. It heads to the north-northwest for towards Goose Lake along a narrow, curving stretch of road. From Goose Lake, Iowa 136 continues to the west towards Delmar for , passing through

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

along the way. Three miles (4.8 km) west of Delmar, it meets

U.S. Highway 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

at a

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. Approaching the ...

. This interchange is adjacent to the 61 Drive In outdoor movie theatre. It continues west through the small communities of Elwood and Lost Nation, before reaching Oxford Junction. At Oxford Junction, Iowa 136 turns to the north and travels to

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, where it meets

Iowa Highway 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 ...

. For one mile (1.6 km), Iowa 64 and Iowa 136 overlap each other through Wyoming. On the western edge of the community, Iowa 136 splits away and travels north towards Onslow. North of Onslow, it passes through rural Jones County for , crossing the

Maquoketa River The Maquoketa River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 in northeastern Iowa in the United States. I ...

, before reaching

Cascade Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science *Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls * Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex) * Cascade (grape), a type of fruit * Bioc ...

and U.S. Route 151. Now in Dubuque County, Iowa 136 crosses the North Fork Maquoketa River and heads northwest towards

Worthington Worthington may refer to: People * Worthington (surname) * Worthington family, a British noble family Businesses * Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's * Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a dive ...

. Five miles () later, it meets U.S. Highway 20 and U.S. Highway 52 at a partial cloverleaf interchange south of

. Prior to 2022, US 52 continued with Iowa 136 for toward Luxemburg.

History

In 1926, when Primary Road No. 20 (PR 20) was renamed

, Primary Road No. 61, which connected Clinton to US 61 west of Delmar, was renumbered Primary Road No. 136. In 1930, Iowa Iowa 136 had been extended west and north to what is now Iowa 64, replacing Iowa 153. Iowa 136 extended north to Onslow in 1931, and to Cascade in 1935. In 1938, Iowa 136 had been extended to Luxemburg, replacing Iowa 188. By 1947, only the PR 61 section of road and another section between Wyoming and Oxford Junction had been paved. In Clinton, Iowa 136 originally began at the N. Third Street intersection with U.S. Highway 67. After U.S. Highway 30 was rerouted over the

Gateway Bridge The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges are a side-by-side pair of road bridges on the Gateway Motorway (M1), which skirts the eastern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The western bridge carries traffic to the north and the eastern bridge car ...

in 1955, Iowa 136 was extended to cross the

over the

Lyons-Fulton Bridge The Mark Morris Memorial Bridge (locally called the North Bridge) is a 2 lane truss bridge across the Mississippi River in the United States. It connects the cities of Clinton, Iowa and Fulton, Illinois. The bridge may also be known as the Lyons-F ...

. A year later, an Alternate U.S. Route 30 was designated over the old alignment of US 30 through Clinton, and Iowa 136 was pulled back to its old end. In 1967, the Alternate US 30 designation was dropped and Iowa 136 again crossed the river. From 1963 to 1967, U.S. Highway 52 was realigned from

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

to follow U.S. Highway 20 to

and Iowa 136 to Luxemburg while its original alignment was rebuilt. During this time, Iowa 136 was truncated back to US 20 at Dyersville, but it was redesignated along this segment after US 52 returned to its old alignment. In December 2021, the Iowa Department of Transportation notified Dubuque county that it was removing the Iowa 136 designation from U.S. 52 between Iowa 3 in Luxemburg and U.S. 20 in Dyersville.

Major intersections

External links

The Iowa Highways Page

References

{{reflist Transportation in Dubuque County, Iowa 136 Transportation in Clinton County, Iowa Transportation in Jones County, Iowa