^Looking west from Iowa 38 near Wilton, October 2021.
In Iowa, US Route 6 follows closely alongside Interstate 80, as an east-west route spanning the middle of the state. It enters Iowa from the west by crossing a bridge over the Missouri River out of Omaha; it's the same bridge used by Interstate 480. US Route 6's path through Council Bluffs was recently deleted, in a measure that rerouted US Route 6 onto Interstate 29 south and Interstate 80 east. This creates a freeway bypass around the south side of town, that ends at Interstate 80's exit 8. While Interstate 80 veers northeast, US Route 6 stays easterly through Oakland and Atlantic. At Atlantic, US Route 6 joins US Route 71 north as a means of duplexing with Interstate 80 again. At DeSoto, just west of Des Moines, US Route 6 jumps from Interstate 80 onto US Route 169 north, so it can get its own surface road alignment again starting at the town of Adel. US Route 6 heads right through Des Moines; it stays north of downtown, but not as far north as Interstate 80 does. At Altoona, just barely east of Des Moines, US Route 6 joins Interstate 80 once again, at an interchange also home to US Route 65 and Iowa Route 330's southern end. At Newton, Iowa Route 14 brings US Route 6 north to its own eastward alignment yet again. This time, US Route 6's independence lasts for a pretty long time, continuing through Iowa City to Wilton. But US Route 6 gets taken back to Interstate 80 for yet another concurrency, by Iowa Route 38. This final concurrency with Interstate 80 (in the state of Iowa, anyway) ends with US Route 6 diverting slightly south along Interstate 280 to Interstate 280's first interchange. This puts US Route 6 in Davenport, along Kimberly Road. The final stretch of US Route 6 in Iowa is a concurrency heading southward along Interstate 74; both routes cross the Mississippi River together from Bettendorf, Iowa, to Moline, Illinois.
My photo of US Route 6 in Iowa is the westbound reassurance marker for cars leaving the junction with US Route 63. Specifically, this is the westerly of the two junctions involving US Routes 6 and 63, as US Route 63 turns from northerly to easterly along US Route 6 at this point. This photo was taken on July 1, 2017, as I was driving from south to north along the US Route 63 corridor.
Here are some more photos taken along US Route 6 in Iowa:
Here are some more photos taken along US Route 6 in Iowa:
On Hubbell Avenue, as it runs northeasterly out of Des Moines, US Route 6 meets an interchange with US Route 65's freeway on the east side of town.
On Hubbell Avenue, as it runs northeasterly out of Des Moines, US Route 6 splits from Hubbell Avenue to join Interstate 80. At this same interchange, US Route 65 jumps off of Interstate 80 onto Hubbell Avenue northeast. This is a bit farther northeast of the position of the photo before this one.
US Route 63 joins US Route 6 west for a spell, along a concurrency that interrupts its otherwise northward journey. This is near Malcom, Iowa.
At the west end of the concurrency between US Route 6 and US Route 63, this signage explains the situation to eastbound travelers.
US Route 6 and US Route 151 share a short concurrency in the Amana Colonies area.
At the eastern end of US Route 6's concurrency with US Route 151, this signage explains the situation to westbound travelers on US Route 6.
This trailblazer appears to those heading westward on US Route 6, leaving Coralville and the Iowa City area.
In West Liberty, US Route 6 jogs south from its otherwise eastward course. Where US Route 6 corrects back toward the east, Iowa 70 is born. Iowa 70's northern beginning is here.