Took an afternoon drive from the Quad Cities up to Dubuque and back utilizing portions of the Great River Road system.
U.S. 30 joins U.S. 61’s freeway briefly at DeWitt, Iowa. The exit numbering of the U.S. 61 interchanges shifts to U.S. 30’s mileage along their shared alignment.
U.S. 61 varies between a four-lane freeway and four-lane expressway between Interstate 80 and its merge with U.S. 151 near Dubuque Regional Airport. U.S. 151 merges with the divided highway at a trumpet interchange.
U.S. 52 enters Dubuque from the southeast and joins U.S. 61 & 151 from Bellevue Road.
U.S. 52, 61 & 151 upgrade to a brief freeway on the approach to downtown Dubuque. Interchanges connect the trio with Grandview Avenue and Locust Street. Locust Street provides a connection to U.S. 20, which passes over U.S. 52-61-151 along the Julien Dubuque Bridge.
U.S. 52-61-151 see traffic lights with Jones Street and the Locust Street/U.S. 20 connector before upgrading to another freeway leading northeast from downtown Dubuque to Wisconsin. The freeway elevates onto a viaduct from 4th Street and splits with U.S. 52 at 11th Street west before spanning the Mississippi on the arched Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge.
Spanning the Mississippi River along U.S. 61 & 151 north. The Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge opened to traffic in 1982 and is the second longest arch bridge across the Mississippi (the first is the Interstate 255 Jefferson Barracks Bridge).
Looking south at the frozen Mississippi River from the Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge. The Mississippi River was frozen southward toward Clinton.
Wisconsin typically uses a uni-sign type configuration when signing overlapped routes. This particular assembly lies along the northbound freeway of U.S. 61-151 & Wisconsin 35.
U.S. 20 briefly sees its own freeway through parts of Dubuque. The freeway sinks toward the Mississippi River, intersecting Locust Street at-grade, before crossing the Mississippi River.
Crossing the Mississippi River on the narrow Julien Dubuque Bridge of U.S. 20. The steel-arch truss bridge opened in 1943.
A rock cut along Wisconsin 11 after its intersection with Rock Cut Road.
Snow covered trees shroud the landscape of U.S. 20 east on its ascent from the historic town of Galena.
A scenic lookout area resides along the westbound side of U.S. 20 east of Galena.
Descending along Illinois 84 south after its split with U.S. 20.
Straddling the Mississippi River along Illinois 84 south near the Savanna-Sabula Bridge of U.S. 52. Illinois 84 travels between a railroad line and Mississippi Palisades State Park.
Traveling west across the Mississippi on U.S. 52 over the Savanna-Sabula Bridge. A bridge plate attached to the beginning of the span installed in 1932 reads "Short Route Cedar Rapids – Chicago".
A short truss bridge carries U.S. 52 drivers over the waterway linking the Mississippi River with adjacent Town Lake. Sabula constitutes a small town on an island bound by the river, Town Lake, Israel Day Lake, and Sabula Lakes. U.S. 52 turns west from Broad Street onto Sycamore Street from a causeway over Sabula Slough onto a second causeway between North and Middle Lakes of the Sabula Lakes system.
U.S. 67’s north end shield posted at the U.S. 52 merge/split with Iowa 64 west of Sabula. U.S. 67 continued northwest with U.S. 52 to Dubuque between 1934 and 1967.
Iowa 136 becomes Illinois 136 as it crosses the Mississippi River via the Lyons-Fulton Bridge between Lyons, Iowa and Fulton, Illinois. This steel truss bridge opened to traffic in 1975.
U.S. 30 enters Clinton, Iowa from East Clinton, Illinois along the Gateway Bridge. This suspension bridge opened to traffic in 1956 and was rebuilt in 1999.
U.S. 30 and 67 combine for a short distance between downtown Clinton and north of Camanche. The intersection where the two split doubles as an entrance to a big box retail center. U.S. 67 utilizes a two-lane controlled-access type bypass of Camanche west of town.
U.S. 67 enters the riverside town of Princeton. The US route parallels the Davenport, Rock Island & North Western Railroad. through both Princeton and nearby Le Claire.