^US Route 20 ascends to the bridge across the Mississippi River out of Dubuque, November 2023.
US Route 20 spans the width of Iowa, situated about a third of the way down the state, from north to south. This puts US Route 20 at a latitude where it's skewering through the fourth row of counties from the state's northern end (out of 9). The east-west highway enters Iowa from Nebraska by crossing the Missouri River into Sioux City, Iowa. It crosses the river along with Interstate 129 and US Route 75. While Interstate 129 abruptly ends a fraction of the mile into the state at Interstate 29, US Route 20 continues wrapping around the southeast side of Sioux City, splitting from US Route 75 soon after. US Route 20 continues as a 4-lane expressway across the entire remainder of Iowa, with the occasional upgrade to a fully-fledged freeway. US Route 20 is instrumental for accessing Fort Dodge, Waterloo, and Dubuque, among other smaller locales. It passes just to the south of Iowa Falls, which is accessed by a short jaunt north on US Route 65. Waterloo is where US Route 20 meets Iowa Route 58 and Iowa Route 27. Iowa Route 27 joins US Route 20 around the south side of Waterloo, coming from Iowa Route 58's north leg. Iowa Route 27 then splits from US Route 20 to continue south along Interstate 380. US Route 20's last and easternmost Iowa destination is Dubuque, on the Mississippi River. It leaves the state of Iowa for the very northwest corner of Illinois.
My photo of US Route 20 in Iowa comes from its interchange with Iowa Route 150 in Independence, Iowa. This sign assembly in the photo faces south to northbound traffic on Iowa Route 150. It announces that the turn for the onramp to eastbound US Route 20 is just ahead, on the right. This photo was taken on July 1, 2017, as I was closing out my trip across eastern Iowa.
Here are some additional photos taken along US Route 20 in Iowa:
Here are some additional photos taken along US Route 20 in Iowa:
US Route 20 and US Route 75 run together on a freeway bypass around the southeast side of Sioux City. The two routes had entered Iowa together, crossing the Missouri River out of Nebraska.
Looking west where Iowa 17 splits toward the north from US Route 20. This is the west end of a short concurrency between the two routes.
US Route 20 meets the east end of the Iowa 17 concurrency, where Iowa 17 continues south. This photo looks west.
US Route 20 reaches an interchange with US Route 69.
US Route 20 meets the freeway that extends toward the north around the west side of Waterloo, and it carries Iowa 27 and Iowa 58.
US Route 20 meets US Route 63 near Waterloo.
US Route 20 meets a junction with the northernmost appendage of Interstate 380, which pokes northerly into Waterloo.
US Route 20 meets the eastern end of its concurrency with Interstate 380, where Interstate 380 starts to continue southward toward Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
Exit 254 from US Route 20 leads to Iowa 150 in the town of Independence. The eastbound exit sign appears here.
Looking east at Exit 266 to Iowa 187.
US Route 20's eastbound trailblazer found down the road from the Eldridge exit.
A short expressway was built as a southwestern bypass around Dubuque, carrying US Route 52. This photo looks east at the exit to the north end of that bypass.
Looking east from the easternmost intersection along US Route 20, a turn off to downtown Dubuque. This incidentally also shows the eastward approach to US Route 20's bridge over the Mississippi River into Illinois.