Iowa Highway 2

Iowa Highway 2
Iowa 2 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Iowa DOT
Length:	251.376 mi (404.550 km)
Major junctions
West end:	N-2 at Nebraska City, Neb
	I‑29 near Percival US 71 at Clarinda I‑35 near Decatur City US 65 near Humeston US 63 at Bloomfield US 218 / Iowa 27 at Donnellson
East end:	US 61 at Fort Madison
Location
Counties:	Fremont Page Taylor Ringgold Decatur Wayne Appanoose Davis Van Buren Lee
Highway system
Iowa Primary Highway System Interstate U.S. State Secondary Scenic ← Iowa 1 Iowa 3 →

Iowa Highway 2 (Iowa 2) is a 251-mile-long (404 km) state highway which runs across the southernmost tier of counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. At no point along its route is Iowa 2 more than 15 miles (24 km) from the Missouri state line, except for a small section near its eastern terminus. Iowa 2 stretches across the entire state; from the Missouri River near Nebraska City, Nebraska, to U.S. Route 61 (US 61) at Fort Madison. Prior to becoming a primary highway, the route was known as the Waubonsie Trail.

Route description

File:US 71 and IA 2 near Clarinda, Iowa.jpg

US 71 has a concurrency with Iowa 2 near Clarinda.

Iowa Highway 2 begins at the Nebraska City Bridge just east of Nebraska City, Nebraska. It goes northeast and then east as an expressway until meeting Interstate 29. It then continues east as a two-lane highway until meeting U.S. Highway 275 and turning north. It continues north, bypassing Sidney with U.S. 275, and turning east of Sidney. It goes east and meets U.S. 59 at Shenandoah and then U.S. 71 at Clarinda, which is served with Business Route 2. It continues east through New Market and meets Iowa Highway 148 at Bedford. After intersecting Iowa Highway 25 east of Bedford, it passes through Benton before beginning an overlap with U.S. Highway 169 through Mount Ayr. After passing through Kellerton, Iowa 2 intersects Interstate 35 at Decatur City.

Iowa Highway 2 continues east through Decatur City and meets U.S. Highway 69 in Leon. It continues east and intersects U.S. Highway 65 before entering Corydon, where it intersects Iowa Highway 14. After passing through Promise City, it goes through Centerville, where it intersects Iowa Highway 5. It later intersects Iowa Highway 202 near Moulton and then begins a concurrency with U.S. Highway 63 which ends in Bloomfield.

After Bloomfield, Iowa Highway 2 turns southeasterly to pass through Pulaski, Milton, and Cantril, then turns briefly northeast. It turns east, intersects Iowa Highway 1 south of Keosauqua, then turns southeast towards Farmington. At Farmington, Iowa 2 meets Iowa Highway 81 and crosses the Des Moines River. It continues east and meets U.S. Highway 218 and Iowa Highway 27 at Donnellson. From there, it then meets U.S. Highway 61 and ends on the west side of Fort Madison.

Clarinda business loop

Iowa Highway 2 Business
Location:	Clarinda

Iowa Highway 2 Business begins at the western edge of Clarinda on an old alignment of Iowa 2. It follows State Street east into Clarinda. At 16th Street (Glenn Miller Avenue), IA 2 Bus. heads south until its junction with US 71 Business. Both routes follow Washington Street east towards US 71. Iowa 2 Business follows US 71 south to IA 2 to complete the business loop.

History

The current Iowa Highway 2 was designated in 1920 as Primary Road No. 3 (PR No. 3). The 285-mile-long (459 km) route connected Nebraska City, Nebraska, to Burlington. PR No. 3 was overlaid upon the Waubonsie Trail from the Missouri River to Fort Madison. From Fort Madison, it overlappped the Mississippi Valley Scenic Highway, a precursor to the Great River Road. By 1947, the route had been renumbered Iowa 2 and the section between Fort Madison and Burlington was no longer part of the route.

The segment west of Interstate 29 was constructed as an expressway in 1986 with the plan of connecting Lincoln, Nebraska with Interstate 29 using a divided highway.

In late 2013, the Fort Madison city council accepted the jurisdiction of Iowa 2 within the city limits, which eliminated the last 5.8 miles (9.3 km) from the route.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Otoe	Nebraska City			N-2 west	Continuation into Nebraska
Missouri River		0.000	0.000	Nebraska City Bridge
Fremont	Benton Township	3.215	5.174	I‑29
	Washington–Sidney township line	10.580	17.027	US 275 south	West end of US 275 overlap
	Sidney Township	15.301	24.625	US 275 north (Illinois Street)	East end of US 275 overlap
Fremont–Page county line	Shenandoah	28.074	45.181	US 59
Page	Clarinda	45.071	72.535	Iowa 2 Business east (State Street)
		46.909	75.493	US 71 south (Glenn Miller Avenue) / US 71 Business	West end of US 71 overlap
	Nodaway Township	48.619	78.245	US 71 north / Iowa 2 Business west	East end of US 71 overlap
Taylor	Bedford	65.725	105.774	Iowa 148 north	West end of Iowa 148 overlap
		65.948	106.133	Iowa 148 south (Madison Avenue)	East end of Iowa 148 overlap
Taylor–Ringgold county line	Gay–Benton township line	81.833	131.697	Iowa 25 north
Ringgold	Rice Township	92.486	148.842	US 169 south	West end of US 169 overlap
	Mount Ayr	94.826	152.608	US 169 north (Cleveland Street)	East end of US 169 overlap
Decatur	Decatur Township	115.316	185.583	I‑35
	Leon	119.648	192.555	US 69 south (Lorraine Street)	West end of US 69 overlap
		120.334	193.659	US 69 north (Church Street)	East end of US 69 overlap
Wayne	Clay Township	133.695	215.161	US 65
	Corydon	143.285	230.595	Iowa 14 north
Appanoose	Centerville	167.278	269.208	Iowa 5 (18th Street)
	Washington Township	177.847	286.217	Iowa 202 south
Davis	West Grove Township	187.017	300.975	US 63 south	West end of US 63 overlap
	Bloomfield	191.877	308.796	US 63 north (Washington Street)	East end of US 63 overlap
Van Buren	Des Moines–Vernon township line	219.192	352.755	Iowa 1 north
	Farmington Township	231.268	372.190	Iowa 81 south
Lee	Donnellson	242.784	390.723	US 218 / Iowa 27	Interchange
	Fort Madison	251.376	404.550	US 61	Interchange
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

External links

• The Iowa Highways Page by Jason Hancock