Iowa Highway 163 (Iowa 163) 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 Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

that travels from U.S. Highway 69 in

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 ...

US 63 U.S. Route 63 (US 63) is a , north–south United States Highway primarily in the Midwestern and Southern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at Interstate 20 (I-20) in Ruston, Louisiana; the northern terminus is at US&nbs ...

near Oskaloosa. 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 List of Iowa state highways, primary highway system. Located in Am ...

(Iowa DOT) has signed Iowa 163 from Oskaloosa to Burlington along US 63 and

US 34 U.S. Route 34 (US 34) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from north-central Colorado to the western suburbs of Chicago. Through Rocky Mountain National Park it is known as the Trail Ridge Road where it reaches an elevati ...

, but it does not officially recognize those sections of road as part of the route. Iowa 163 is a divided highway with some freeway sections for most of its length and serves as a connector between Des Moines with Burlington.

Route description

Iowa Highway 163 begins at the corner of E. 14th Street, which carries U.S. Highway 69 (US 69), and E. University Avenue in

. It heads east along E. University traveling to Interstate 235 (I-235). There is no direct access to eastbound I-235 from eastbound Iowa 163. Traffic must take E. 21st Street to Easton Boulevard to access eastbound I-235. Highway 163 continues east past the

Iowa State Fair The Iowa State Fair is an annual state fair held in Des Moines, Iowa, every August. It began in 1854 and has been held on the Iowa State Fairgrounds since 1886. It is based in the state capital Des Moines, Iowa over an 11 day period in August ...

grounds on its way to Pleasant Hill where it meets

U.S. Highway 65 U.S. Route 65 (US 65) is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 425 in Clayton, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at Interstate 35 just south of I ...

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 separation, grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. ...

. It continues east and meets

Iowa Highway 117 Iowa Highway 117 is a north–south route in Jasper County, Iowa, Jasper County. The length of the highway is . In addition to serving several communities directly, Highway 117 also provides a shortcut between U.S. Route 65 and Interstate 80 ...

near Prairie City. It turns southeast and meets

Iowa Highway 14 Iowa Highway 14 (Iowa 14) is a state highway that runs from north to south across the state of Iowa for . The begins in Corydon at an intersection with Iowa 2 and ends in Charles City at an intersection with U.S. Highway 18 (US&nbs ...

near

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

. It continues southeast, passes

Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...

, then continues southeast, meeting

Iowa Highway 92 Iowa Highway 92 (Iowa 92) is a state highway (Iowa), state highway that runs from east to west across the state of Iowa. Iowa 92 is long and is part of a continuous four-state "Highway 92" which begins in Torrington, Wyoming, goes throug ...

west of Oskaloosa before intersecting U.S. Highway 63 south of that city. The Iowa 163 designation is then extended along U.S. Highway 63 between Oskaloosa and Ottumwa, and U.S. Highway 34 between Ottumwa and Burlington.

History

In 1926, when U.S. Highway 63 was formed, it followed the route of what became Iowa Highway 163. After U.S. 63 was extended north into Minnesota and Wisconsin in 1934, the route then became U.S. Highway 163.Other US highways in Iowa
/ref> In 1937, US 163 was deleted and was replaced by Iowa Highway 163. In 1970, the US 163 designation was reused for an unrelated highway in Utah and Arizona. Iowa Highway 163 was originally a two-lane road. In the 1970s the highway was divided through Polk County east of Pleasant Hill. During the 1990s, the highway began to emerge from a two-lane highway to a four-lane highway as part of an ongoing project to create a continuous four-lane highway from Des Moines to Burlington. The segments of 163 in rural areas were converted to four lanes, but the main highway still went through the city centers. That would soon change as bypasses were constructed around the towns along the route. The first freeway bypass, with three interchanges, opened around

on October 17, 1994. Bypasses of

Monroe, Iowa Monroe is a city in Jasper County, Iowa, Jasper and Marion County, Iowa, Marion counties in Iowa, United States. The population was 1,967 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Monroe was laid out in 1851 by Adam Tool ...

(with two interchanges),

Prairie City, Iowa Prairie City is a city in Jasper County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,700 at the time of the 2020 census. It is twenty-two miles east of Des Moines. History Prairie City was founded by James Elliott in 1856, for whom it was origina ...

(with one interchange and one turnoff),

Otley, Iowa Otley is a small unincorporated community in Marion County, Iowa, United States. Governed by state laws and county ordinances. It is located approximately 45 miles southeast of the capital, Des Moines, on Iowa Highway 163 Iowa Highway 163 ...

(with two turnoffs), and

Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is a List of cities in Iowa, city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U ...

(with two interchanges) were later constructed. The last four-lane segment opened between Pella and Oskaloosa on September 30, 1999. Today 163 is divided its entire length, except for short stretches of undivided highway in the Des Moines area. In October 2009, Iowa 163 was extended along the completed freeway from Oskaloosa to Burlington, overlapping both U.S. Highway 63 and U.S. Highway 34.

Exit list

Related route

Iowa Highway 163 Business serves Pella, following the old alignment of Iowa 163 through Pella.

References

External links

{{Attached KML
The Iowa Highways Page

163 Year 163 ( CLXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Laelianus and Pastor (or, less frequently, year 916 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 163 for this y ...

Transportation in Des Moines, Iowa Transportation in Polk County, Iowa Transportation in Jasper County, Iowa Transportation in Wapello County, Iowa Transportation in Jefferson County, Iowa Transportation in Henry County, Iowa Transportation in Des Moines County, Iowa U.S. Route 63