U.S. Route 34 in Iowa

U.S. Highway 34
US 34 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Iowa DOT
Length	269.111 mi[1] (433.092 km)
Existed	July 1, 1926 (1926-07-01)[2]–present
Major junctions
West end	US 34 near Glenwood
Major intersections	I-29 near Glenwood US 59 near Emerson US 71 near Villisca US 169 at Afton I-35 at Osceola US 65 at Lucas US 63 / Iowa 163 at Ottumwa US 218 / Iowa 27 at Mount Pleasant US 61 in Burlington
East end	US 34 at Burlington
Location
Country	United States
State	Iowa
Counties	Mills Montgomery Adams Union Clarke Lucas Monroe Wapello Jefferson Henry Des Moines
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided Iowa Primary Highway System Interstate US State Secondary Scenic
← Iowa 33 → I-35

U.S. Highway 34 (US 34) is a United States Highway that runs across the southern third of Iowa. It begins on a bridge over the Missouri River west of Glenwood and travels east where it meets Interstate 29 (I-29) and US 275. Through southwestern Iowa, the highway is, for the most part, a two-lane rural road with at-grade intersections; there are interchanges with US 59 near Emerson and US 71 near Stanton and Villisca. At Osceola, the highway intersects I-35 and US 69. Just east of Ottumwa, where the road meets US 63, the road joins the four-lane Iowa 163 for the remainder of its trek through the state. At Mount Pleasant, it overlaps US 218 and Iowa 27, the Avenue of the Saints Highway. From there, the road heads to the southeast where it crosses the Mississippi River on the Great River Bridge at Burlington.

US 34 was one of the original U.S. Highways when the system was created in 1926, though it was preceded by the Blue Grass Route, a 310-mile-long (500 km) auto trail that connected Council Bluffs and Burlington. In 1920, the Iowa State Highway Commission (ISHC) assigned route numbers to roads in order to improve wayfinding for travelers. The Blue Grass Route was assigned Primary Road No. 8 in its entirety. Six years later, No. 8 was renamed U.S. Highway 34. In 1930, the highway became the first road to be fully paved across the state. By the 1950s, increased traffic and larger automobiles proved the original pavement inadequate. The highway was straightened and widened to accommodate modern vehicles.

Starting in the 1960s, parts of the route were expanded to four lanes; a section of controlled-access highway was built in Burlington and limited-access highway in Glenwood. During construction of the four-lane road in Glenwood, Native American remains were discovered. Their subsequent lab analysis and delayed reburial created a controversy that eventually led to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. In the 1990s and 2000s, the highway between Ottumwa and West Burlington was widened to four lanes as part of a project to improve the corridor between Des Moines and Burlington. Since the early 1990s, narrow toll bridges at both the eastern and western state lines were replaced by modern, toll-free bridges that can handle high volumes of high-speed traffic.