Exits for CR X32 and the back side of US 61 Business, which provide access to the municipal airport and Iowa State Penitentiary, respectively, complete Fort Madison's grade-separated junctions.

[2][3] Shortly thereafter, the highway turns to the northeast and passes by Wever, where it meets the eastern end of Iowa 16 and crosses the Skunk River.

[2][3] The highways then continue north then turn to the northeast to descend onto Muscatine Island, a sandy plain known for growing conditions ideal for melons, particularly muskmelons.

A little over a mile later (2 km), US 30 exits to the west toward Grand Mound and Cedar Rapids; an older alignment of US 30 heads east into DeWitt.

As the highway approaches Maquoketa, it takes a hard curve to the west and meets Main Street at a folded diamond interchange.

Direct access from US 61 / US 151 is not possible due to the location of the Julien Dubuque Bridge landing, which is shifted away from the river bank in order to clear a rail yard.

Fuel conservation spurred by the oil crisis of 1973, increasing inflation, and decreased federal revenues caused the commission to reduce the number of projects undertaken by nearly 50%.

[19] At a meeting in Jacksonville, Illinois on February 22, 1919, the executive members Burlington Way Good Roads Association voted to add the eastern Iowa leg of the highway anyway.

[20] Not long after, a caravan of Mississippi Valley Highway Association members traveled the length of the road through Iowa on their way to the annual meeting held in St. Paul, Minnesota.

[24] In 1919, the Iowa General Assembly passed a bill that created a fund for improving and hard-surfacing nearly 6,300 miles (10,100 km) of primary roads in the state.

Local leaders countered with a proposal to utilize and upgrade the present highway by bypassing Montrose slightly and reworking a series of curves outside of Fort Madison.

The western route would also require the state to purchase nine miles (14 km) of right-of-way through farmland, which the delegation from Lee County strongly opposed.

[52] Between Maquoketa and Dubuque, US 61 was a narrow, winding road, only 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, where it was not uncommon for cars to be stuck behind larger trucks for miles at a time.

In response, the highway commission placed the stop ahead signs 1,200 feet (370 m) from the intersection and added black-and-white reflectorized boards and red flags to make them more conspicuous.

In addition to inflationary pressures, the DOT cited the financial woes were compounded by increased use of gasohol, which was exempt from fuel taxes, and the failures of the Milwaukee Road and Rock Island Line.

The creation of Fuller Park in the 1970s on the western side of the city forced DOT planners to move the proposed highway's path farther west.

[77] The former alignment of US 61 along E. 20th Street and Rhomberg Avenue remained in the state highway system long after the demolition of the Eagle Point Bridge.

Near the old Iowa State Penitentiary, there was a steep hill that ended at a three-way stop with a connection to the Fort Madison Toll Bridge.

To residents of the zone through which the highway would pass, mainly African- and Mexican-Americans who were shunted to that part of town by discriminatory means, the plans represented continued discrimination.

[79] Based on the success of highway revolts in San Francisco and elsewhere, residents of southwestern Fort Madison decided to fight back against the project.

They enlisted the help of a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) lawyer, who quickly charged that the project was in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in programs that receive federal funding.

Harper appealed to the United States Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Office of Civil Rights and was one of the members of the opposition at arbitration hearings in Washington, D.C., in October 1974.

[80] There was confusion among Iowa and USDOT officials about which agency would pay for a bridge across the Peosta Channel, which flowed between mainland Dubuque and City Island.

The design of the road was particularly difficult because DOT officials wanted to minimize disruption to downtown and rail infrastructures and because of the proximity of the Ice Harbor along the Mississippi River.

Governor Terry Branstad publicly stated his support for not delaying certain highway projects, a list of which included US 61 from Montrose to Fort Madison, while the DOT faced budget shortfalls.

[96] Near Wever pottery fragments and arrowheads, signs of a Native American settlement, were found by crews surveying for the expansion project.

[97] As segments of four-lane highway were opened to traffic, as the thirteen miles (21 km) between Fort Madison and Burlington did in August 1997, speed limits were raised from 55 to 65 mph (90 to 105 km/h).

[100] The fifteen miles (24 km) of roadway between De Witt and Maquoketa was expected to utilize existing right-of-way and have straighter curves than the two-lane road.

[101] North of Welton, construction was delayed for a few months when crews discovered that bridges over Deep Creek were ten feet (3.0 m) off course and had to be rebuilt.

[125] Plans were to extend the four lanes south about five miles (8.0 km) and build two interchanges: one that would serve a high school that abutted the highway and another to mark the southern end of the Iowa 92 overlapping.