Iowa Highway 15
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Iowa DOT | ||||
| Length: | 63.578 mi[2] (102.319 km) | |||
| Existed: | 1969[1] – present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end: |   Iowa 3 / CR N65 near Pocahontas |
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 US 18 near Whittemore Iowa 9 at Armstrong |
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| North end: |  MN 15 north of Armstrong |
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| Location | ||||
| Counties: | Pocahontas, Humboldt, Palo Alto, Kossuth, Emmet | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Iowa Primary Highway System
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→Iowa Highway 15 (Iowa 15) is a north–south state highway in northern Iowa. It is 631⁄2 miles (102 km) long. The southern end of Iowa 15 is 7 miles (11 km) east of Pocahontas at an intersection with Iowa Highway 3. The northern end is at the Minnesota border, where the highway continues north as Minnesota State Highway 15 near Fairmont, Minnesota.
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[edit] Route description
Iowa Highway 15 begins 7 miles (11 km) east of Pocahontas at Iowa Highway 3. It goes north for 5 miles (8.0 km) to Rolfe, then begins to go northeast in a stairstep manner for 9 miles (14 km) until crossing the West Fork of the Des Moines River and into Humboldt County 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Ottosen. It then turns north onto the Palo Alto County/Kossuth County border for 41⁄2 miles (7.2 km) and passes through West Bend. It continues north for 81⁄2 miles (14 km) to the Whittemore area, where there is a one-mile (1.6 km) overlap with U.S. Route 18, where it fully enters Kossuth County.
It goes north 9 miles (14 km) to Fenton, continues north for 6 miles (9.7 km), and then turns west for 3 miles (4.8 km), where it enters Emmet County. Near Ringsted, it turns north again for 61⁄2 miles (10 km) and meets Iowa Highway 9 in Armstrong. Iowa 9 and Iowa 15 overlap each other for two blocks before Iowa 15 turns north into Armstrong. Highway 15 leaves Armstrong to the east; 3 miles (4.8 km) east of town, it turns north and ends at the Minnesota border 7 miles (11 km) later.
[edit] History
Parts of what is now Iowa Highway 15 were originally primary roads designated in 1926. Primary Road 44 extended from Primary Road 10, now Iowa Highway 3 to Rolfe, while Primary Road 43 extended from Armstrong to the Minnesota state line.[3] By 1947, Iowa Highway 44 had been created along the same route Iowa 15 now occupies.[4] In 1969, then-Iowa Highway 44 was redesignated as Iowa Highway 15 to match Minnesota State Highway 15 at the state line.[1]
[edit] Major intersections
| County | Location | Mile[2] | Destinations | Notes | |||
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| Pocahontas |
Pocahontas | 0.000 | Iowa 3 / CR N65 |
Southern terminus | |||
| Humboldt |
No major junctions | ||||||
| Kossuth |
Whittemore | 29.412 | US 18 west |
Southern end of US 18 overlap. | |||
| 30.400 |  US 18 east / CR P16 south |
Northern end of US 18 overlap. | |||||
| Emmet |
Armstrong | 54.675 | Iowa 9 west |
Southern end of IA 9 overlap. | |||
| 54.790 | Iowa 9 east |
Northern end of IA 9 overlap. | |||||
| 63.578 | MN 15 |
Northern terminus. | |||||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||||
[edit] Southern route
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| Location: | Van Buren County |
| Length: | 4.6 mi[5] (7.4 km) |
| Existed: | 1969–July 1, 2003 |
Prior to July 1, 2003, there was a second Iowa 15 in southern Iowa. That route extended 41⁄2 miles (7.2 km) south from Iowa Highway 2 to the Missouri state line where it became Missouri Route 15. Iowa 15 was replaced by Van Buren County Road V56 and is currently signed as 'To Missouri Route 15' at the intersection with Iowa 2.[6] The southern Iowa Highway 15 was originally designated as Primary Road 11 in 1926.[7] By 1947, this highway had been designated Iowa Highway 23.[4] In 1969, it too was designated as Iowa Highway 15 to match Missouri Route 15 at the state line.[1]
In 2002, the southern Iowa 15 was selected with over 700 miles (1,100 km) as low-traffic roads that should be turned over to county jurisdictions.[8] The transfer to Van Buren County took place when the law went into effect on July 1, 2003.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Iowa State Highway Commission (1969). Iowa State Highway Map (Map). http://www.iowadotmaps.com/msp/historical/pdf/1969_front.pdf. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
- ^ a b "2010 Volume of Traffic on the Primary Road System of Iowa" (PDF). Iowa Department of Transportation. January 1, 2010. http://www.iowadotmaps.com/trafbook/trafbook2010.pdf. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
- ^ Rand McNally & Company (1926). Junior Road Map: Western Iowa (Map). http://www.broermapsonline.org/members/NorthAmerica/UnitedStates/NorthCentral/Iowa/unitedstates1926ra_044.html. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
- ^ a b Rand McNally & Company (1947). Road and Reference Atlas (Map). 1:1,077,120. pp. 42–43.
- ^ Iowa Department of Transportation (January 1, 2009). Highway and Transportation Map: Van Buren County, Iowa (Map). http://www.iowadotmaps.com/msp/pdf/Van%20Buren.pdf. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
- ^ Morrison, Jeff (August 27, 2007). "End of south Iowa 15". Iowa Highway Ends. http://www.angelfire.com/ia/jdmorrison/ends/ia15S.html. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
- ^ Rand McNally & Company (1926). Junior Road Map: Eastern Iowa (Map). http://www.broermapsonline.org/members/NorthAmerica/UnitedStates/NorthCentral/Iowa/unitedstates1926ra_045.html. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
- ^ Reeder, Greg; Stevens, Larry; Fichtner, Royce; Stoner, Tom; Wandro, Mark; Volmer, Neil (April 1, 2003). "Evaluation of the State Highway System and Road Use Tax Fund" (PDF). State of Iowa. http://publications.iowa.gov/1147/1/rutf_committee_report.pdf. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
