This page features photos of some of the more unusual and unique aspects of county
road signage in Iowa.
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Two county roads share the same number, and they share the same road in this photo,
but the letters make them different highways. W40 is north-south and J40 is east-west.
These signs are in Bonaparte, Van Buren County.
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The intersection of County Roads F33 and Z30 in McCausland, Scott County, shows two different styles of county road markers. While marker styles tend to vary among counties, some older county road markers, like the one on the right, tend to be hyphenated and have white text (except for the route number itself); newer ones, like the one on the left, are entirely in yellow text and have no hyphens.
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Signing for Lyon County Road A10, Iowa's lowest-numbered and lowest-lettered county road, along IA 9 northwest of Larchwood. A10, which is not signed along the route itself, straddles the Iowa/South Dakota state line and passes the point where Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota state boundaries meet. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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At the other extreme, here is Iowa's highest-lettered and highest-numbererd county road, Clinton County Road Z50. This sign is north of the junction with IA 136 in Clinton.
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Before 1997, Jasper County Road F17 east of IA 330 was IA 223. Signs
showing its former number were put up after the county took over the road.
(This photo at 223's former west end is no longer up because of IA 330
construction. There was a similar sign at its former east end at IA 14,
but that sign is gone as well.)
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However, Jasper County has now done the same thing with County Road F62,
formerly IA 225. This sign is in Sully, where IA 225's former west end
was. (Photographed by Mark Odor)
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Although county roads generally are not signed with cardinal
direction markers, this sign in Anamosa is an exception. Despite being
a county road, E28 is signed just like a state highway (as it was formerly
part of IA 64 and later IA 428 before it was decommissioned in 1980).
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Lee County uses direction markers on all of its county roads.
This example is off US 61 near Wever.
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In this assembly between Colfax and Newton in Jasper County, the "EAST" banner and
County Road F48 shield appear to be newer than the arrow sign below it, which is in a lighter
shade of blue.
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This sign in Lambs Grove, west of Newton, is marked "TO" F48 because the road is not technically maintained by Jasper County at that point; it becomes
F48 upon leaving the Lambs Grove city limits. Similar signs can be found in Colfax
on either side of IA 117.
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Jeff Morrison took this photo, which features two colors of directional markers, along
the former IA 142 on June 16, 2003 —
weeks after the state turned it over to Appanoose County.
"The 'West' must be left over from IA 142, but the Centerville Daily
Iowegian clearly showed that the first 142 sign leaving IA 2 was
"North". I think it switched directions when J18 left the route. This
is where the road itself changes direction (this is facing south)."
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This sign assembly on IA 17 appears to be redundant, but really isn't; County Road C12 straddles the Humboldt/Kossuth county line. IA 17 itself straddles the Humboldt/Wright county line here. The intersection itself is at the intersection of Kossuth, Hancock, Humboldt, and Wright counties. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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Most diagonal county roads use a letter-number-letter format such as this example,
Linn County Road W6E in Center Point. However...
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Some counties mark the ends of their county roads, and some don't.
Cedar County does, as this sign in Lowden shows. (Unfortunately,
since the flash on my camera went off when I took this, it did not turn
out the way I wanted it to.) This particular road becomes County Road Y14
after crossing US 30.
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Story County Road E29's end is also signed. (Photographed by Mark Odor)
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This sign assembly north of Milton shows the intersection of County Road J40 and the
end of County Road V56 at the same time. Most assemblies in Van Buren County
(and a few others) show the current road that you're on and the road that is intersecting
underneath the "JCT" sign.
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This E18 marker south of Templeton has a white "END" banner, which was probably a leftover from its days as IA 236. By 2006 this assembly was replaced with a "STOP AHEAD" sign. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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A sign assembly noting the end of Davis County Road J3T is visible on the left-hand side of the road, but a standalone marker appears on the right, implying that J3T doesn't end at this point. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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This big green sign on I-35 in Worth County shows a common feature on freeway signs that
feature county road markers: the white square background that makes the marker stand out.
Although this photo didn't turn out well, the county road represented here is Worth County
Road 105 — the one known exception to the alphanumeric numbering system — which replaced
the former IA 105 in 1993. Aside from the odd number, it's signed just like any other
county road in Iowa.
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Another former state highway that has kept its number as a county road is the former IA 79 in Des Moines County, shown here at the junction with US 34. However, in October 2005, County Road 79 was renumbered as County Road J20.
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This unusual pentagon is near Montezuma; the top of this one is higher than
most pentagons.
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The "D" in County Road D46 seems like an afterthought on this sign
along northbound US 218 near La Porte City.
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The first spotted county road with any sort of banner was found in Ackley. Business County Road S56 follows Main and Butler streets while the mainline County Road S56 follows Franklin Street and 10th Avenue. This photo is on southbound Franklin Street at Main Street. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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This Business S56 sign is located on Butler Street heading north after splitting from the mainline S56. The accompanying Glacier Trail marker is for an old auto trail that is signed in Hardin County. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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The junction with S56 at IA 57 in Ackley is signed with both Franklin and Hardin county road markers, as IA 57 straddles the county line.
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On the other hand, the junction with County Road S55 west of Ackley — which is also at the segment of IA 57 that straddles the Franklin/Hardin county line — has no county road name at all.
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In 2006 part of Dallas County Road F90 was detoured onto I-80. In this case, a County Road R16 marker was used, with the "F90" pasted on top. In addition, the detour sign was placed on a bracket with an I-80 shield. The shadow of the original I-80 shield — which was larger than the shield photographed here — is visible in this photo. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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Square markers
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Before Iowa used blue pentagons to mark county roads, it used green squares.
Although they're rare now, a few of them are still standing, such as this one in Marion
County. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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This aging sign can be found right after turning off US 30 in Dow City. (Photographed by
Jeff Morrison)
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I found a square marker of my own: this is posted at the interchange with I-35 in Story City.
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Another green county road sign was spotted in Gilbert. (Photographed by Mark Odor)
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This sign is east of Garden Grove, just east of where the former IA 204 made a southward
turn. This may be a newer sign as it does not show the age that other green signs on
this page show. (Photographed by Jeff Morrison)
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