Iowa Primary Highway System

Early highways At the turn of the 20th century, roads in Iowa were suited for horse and buggy and ill-suited for automobiles. As more Iowans purchased automobiles, the Iowa legislature set up in 1904 a commission at Iowa State College in Ames to handle issues that arose concerning travel and safety. In 1904, less than 2 percent, or just over of public roads in Iowa had been improved with gravel or broken stone. The first task of the Iowa State Highway Commission, now the Iowa Department of Transportation, was to study Iowa's problematic roads. At the time, roads were merely dusty dirt trails when dry, and quagmires of mud when wet. By 1906, every county was maintaining its dirt road with drags. Designed by Missourian E. Ward King, road drags were a cost-effective way to smooth out dirt roads, costing as much as $3.00 ($, adjusted for inflation) to build. By the end of 1929, the first roads connecting two state borders neared completion. The Lincoln Highway from Ames to Clinton made travel to Chicago easier, while the Jefferson Highway from Lamoni to Ames facilitated travel to Kansas City. These two new roads also made travel easier between Iowa's two most populous cities, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. Interstate Highway System In the 1950s, the Iowa State Highway Commission planned an east-west toll road across the state, roughly along the current Interstate 80 corridor. When the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 created the Interstate Highway System, plans for the toll road were scrapped with great fervor. In Iowa, interstate corridors were designed to follow existing U.S. Highway corridors – Interstate 29 followed U.S. Route 75 and U.S. Route 275, Interstate 35 followed U.S. Route 65 and U.S. Route 69, and Interstate 80 followed U.S. Route 6. Over the next 30 years, sections of interstate were completed and opened for traffic. System improvements In 1959, the nascent Interstate Highway System was growing while the existing primary highway system was beginning to show its age. The 58th General Assembly passed a resolution creating the Iowa Highway Study Committee, consisting of senators, congressmen, and representatives from the Iowa League of Municipalities, county engineers, and the Iowa State Highway Commission. The study committee hired two consulting firms to find the physical and financial needs of the primary highway system for the next twenty years. The study committee itself held frequent meetings across the state to gather public opinions on the state of the highway system. In its final report to the 59th General Assembly, the study committee recommended: • Limiting the primary highway system to including extensions into municipalities. • Transferring of local service highways to local jurisdictions or a separate division of primary highways. • Classifying the primary highway system into two groups – of freeways and of other primary roads. • Reclassifying county roads into trunk, feeder, and local secondary roads. • Classifying municipal roads not in the primary highway system into arterials and access streets. • Distributing 55% of the road use tax fund for use on primary roads, 30% to the counties for secondary roads, and 15% to municipalities for local roads. The study committee urged caution on immediately adopting their report, instead recommending to adopt the findings over time. • Transferring of primary highways to county and city governments. • Transferring farm-to-market road extensions in cities under 500 population to the counties. On April 17, 2003, the Iowa Senate introduced a bill, Senate File 451, which would allow the mass transfer. The bill was passed by the Senate and House and was signed by Governor Tom Vilsack on May 23, 2003. Over of state highways, mostly short spur routes and segments bypassed after new construction, were turned over to county or municipal governments on July 1, 2003. Typically, when the Iowa Department of Transportation transfers a highway to a county or local jurisdiction, the DOT must ensure the highway is in good condition or provide the county compensation to repair the highway. Senate File 451, codified as Iowa Code §306.8A, instead created a fund for the maintenance of newly transferred highways. Until 2013, 1.75% of the primary highway fund will be directed to this fund to compensate counties receiving highways. Over $1.1 million has been allocated to counties for the August 2009 – July 2010 period. Iowa has over of Interstate highways, over of U.S. Highways, and over of state highways, many of which overlap. Today, the primary highway system represents over 8% of the total public road miles in the state. ==Funding==

While the Iowa Highway Commission was growing, the Iowa legislature allowed organizations to sponsor and register certain roads. Sponsors brought in much needed funds to maintain the roadways. Road sponsors were allowed to choose the colors of their road markers and slogans for road signs. |alt=A small concrete bridge crosses a stream. The sides of the bridge were designed to spell out "Lincoln Highway". The Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 set aside $75 million over 5 years ($, adjusted for inflation) of which $146,000 per year ($, adjusted for inflation) was earmarked for Iowa. This created much needed jobs during the Great Depression. The paving lasted until World War II, when resources were reallocated. In 1919, the Iowa legislature created the Primary Road Fund, which provided funding for new road projects. In addition to the Primary Road Fund, counties were allowed to issue bonds to expedite the improvement of roads. A gasoline tax (, adjusted for inflation) was created in 1925, with one-third of revenues going into the Primary Road Fund and the other two-thirds going towards county and township roads. Today, the Road Use Tax Fund is distributed into funds based on classifications – 47.5% is distributed into the Primary Road Fund, 32.5% is distributed to counties through the Secondary and Farm-to-Market Road Funds, and 20% is distributed into the City Street Fund. ==Signage==

U.S. and Iowa highways are marked with a , or rarely, a black sign with a white shield or white circle, respectively. To make room for additional digits, fonts are adjusted accordingly: One-digit routes use MUTCD Series D, two-digit routes use MUTCD Series C, and three-digit routes use MUTCD Series B. Additional room for numbers on three-digit routes can be created by using numbers. In 2014, Iowa DOT began to use wider, signs on three-digit-numbered highways. Interstate Highways in Iowa are signed with, compared to current MUTCD standards, an older style blue and red shield which features smaller numbers, wider striping, and the state's name on every shield. When in use in the field, two-digit shields are , while three-digit shields are , and and , respectively, on intersecting roads. All county routes are signed with the MUTCD-standard blue pentagonal shield, however some older signs still remain. ==Secondary roads==

south of Cotter Secondary roads are defined simply by the Iowa Code as those roads under county jurisdiction. The 99 counties in Iowa divide the secondary road system into farm-to-market roads and area service roads. Farm-to-market roads, which connect principal traffic generating areas to primary roads or to other farm-to-market roads, are maintained by the route's respective county and are paid for by a special fund. The Farm-to-Market Road Fund consists of federal secondary road aid and 8% of Iowa's road use taxes. ==See also==