Bypasses and the towns they bypass

US 30 bypass under construction south of Mt. Vernon
and Lisbon (Google Earth) 

As construction on the U.S. 30 bypass around Mt. Vernon and Lisbon nears the paving phase, and parts of the Highway 100 extension around the northwest side of Cedar Rapids already are open for traffic, hopes are high in all three towns for the development they will bring. "We're hoping to grow the community by having developments up to the bypass, hopefully on the east side of town and south of town, and also incorporate some commercial businesses along the bypass," said Connie Meier, city administrator for Lisbon, which is 18 miles east of Cedar Rapids (Payne 2018: 11A).

Recent experience shows building a bypass is no guarantee a town will grow. Bypasses have been burgeoning around the state longer than roundabouts have. As this survey of recent bypasses shows, Iowa towns have tended not to expand to meet the bypasses, nor has much if any development occurred along the new highways. The bypasses have taken traffic pressure off the city's main streets, but walkable urban development has not resulted. No town has seen burgeoning population growth, and a few have declined.

Cascade (Dubuque County, partly in Jones County)

Population (2000): 1,998
Population (2016): 2,281
Increase 2000-2016: 283 (+14.2%)
Land area: 1.87 sq mi
Distance to Dubuque: 25 miles
ADTC of 1st Ave at Johnson St (2001): 6700 (w)-9100 (e)
ADTC of 1st Ave at Johnson St (2013): 2460 (w)-4650 (e)
What's on US151 today: small manufacturing facilities, church, auto dealership
What's on 1st Ave (old US151) today: residential, some commercial... 1st and Johnson features a Subway restaurant, bank, service station and used car dealer.
Assessment: Cascade has not expanded to the highway. Traffic on Johnson Street (S.R. 136) has declined but only slightly.

Clinton (Clinton County)

Lyons Business and Technology Park, off Mill Creek Parkway,
has started slowly (Source: City of Clinton)

Population (2000): 27,792
Population (2016): 25,719
Decrease 2000-2016: -2,073 (-7.5%)
Land area: 35.15 sq mi 
ADTC of Mill Creek Parkway (2014): 4830-8100
What's on Mill Creek Parkway today: Wild Rose Casino and Hampton Inn near US 30, and some commercial development at 19th Avenue, as well as a few churches.
Assessment: Mill Creek Parkway, opened in 2001, is not a complete bypass, just an access road along the western edge of Clinton that ends at Main Avenue. There has been very little change 1998-2014 on traffic on the existing diagonal route (Bluff/Manufacturing Dr) or on US30 towards downtown. Some subdivision development near parkway. Neither parkway nor casino has dramatically impacted residential pattern or town's economy. In September 2017 the City of Clinton announced they would apply for a federal grant to widen the parkway to four lanes as well as extending it to Eagle Point Park (Mosbach 2017).

Monticello (Jones County)

Population (2000): 3,641
Population (2016): 3,836
Increase 2000-2016: 195 (+5.3%)
Land area: 6.29 sq mi
Distance to Cedar Rapids: 35 miles
ADTC of Main St at 1st St (2001): 7300 (n)-11000 (s)
ADTC of Main St at 1st St (2013): 3960 (n)-6900 (s)
What's on US151 today: service station, pizza chain
What's on Main St (old US151) today: residential, some commercial... Main and 1st features two bakeries, Mexican restaurant, regional chain pharmacy.
Assessment: Highway bypass is mostly within Monticello corporate limits but residential and commercial development has not expanded to the highway. Traffic on 1st and Cedar Streets (S.R. 38) has significantly declined.

Mount Pleasant (Henry County)

North Jefferson Street (Source: City of Mt Pleasant)

Population (2000): 8,761
Population (2016): 8,392
Decrease 2000-2016: -369 (-4.2%)
Land area: 8.51 sq mi
Distance to Burlington: 30 miles
ADTC of Grand Ave at Washington St (1998): 6500 (s)-9500 (n)
ADTC of Grand Ave at Washington St (2014): 3230 (s)-7900 (n)
ADTC of Washington St at Grand Av (1998): 12800 (e)-13700 (w)
ADTC of Washington St at Grand Av (2014): 11600 (e)-10800 (w)
What's on US218/34 today: Few interchanges. Only considerable commercial development at Washington Street exit; not sure how much is new.
What's on Washington St (old US34) and Grand Av (old US218) today: More commercial on Washington than on Grand, mostly franchise chains and discount stores. Intersection of Washington and Grand retains elaborate auto-oriented diamond interchange which prevents development of any kind there.
Assessment: Highway bypass is partly within Mt. Pleasant corporate limits, but residential development has not expanded to the highway. The Mt. Pleasant Trail runs along the 218 bypass east of town. Some loss of traffic on some parts of former US routes but not all, which is curious. Traffic on other major streets (Cherry, Jefferson) is mostly unchanged. A Main Street group exists which may serve to promote urbanism in the town's core.

New Hampton (Chickasaw County)

Population (2000): 3,711
Population (2016): 3,424
Decrease 2000-2016: -287 (-7.7%)
Land area: 3.16 sq mi
Distance to Waterloo: 40 miles
ADTC of Linn Ave at Main St (2001): 7200 (n)-7500 (s)
ADTC of Linn Ave at Main St (2013): 3320 (s)-3890 (n)
What's on US63 today: Commercial and industrial development at Milwaukee Street interchange does not appear to be new: closest to the highway is Klunder's Kafe, opened in 1981.
What's on Linn Ave (old US63) today: residential, schools, some commercial including locally-owned. Linn and Main features a hair salon, Clark Contract Services office, wheelchair and stretcher store, and elementary school.
Assessment: New Hampton has not expanded to the highway, except for a ready-mix concrete business that opened west of the bypass five years ago. Traffic on Main Street (S.R. 24) has substantially declined.

Tama/Toledo (Tama County)

Highway 30 bypass through Tama County (Source: Tama County)

Combined population (2000): 5,298
Combined population (2016): 5,018
Decrease 2000-2016: -280 (-5.3%)
Combined land area: 5.56 sq mi
Distance to Waterloo: 45 miles
ADTC of old US30 at Park St (2001): 6700 (e)-9000 (w)
ADTC of Business US30 at Park St (2013): 3470 (e)-4610 (w)
What's on US30 today: Substantial commercial strip on Park Street (US63) predominantly franchise chains and discount stores, does not appear to be new.
What's on Business US30 today: Primarily an access road in Tama; some commercial development along frontage roads in Toledo. Intersection of Business 30 and Park retains auto-oriented interchange which prevents development of any kind there. Some effort gets you to Hardees' and Maid-Rite fast food restaurants, an auto dealership, and a Casey's Convenience Store.
Assessment: New highway runs between Tama and Toledo rather than completely around the communities, which required running it through a small subdivision where several streets have been dead-ended. Traffic on US63 (Park Street in Toledo, Harding Street in Tama) has significantly declined.

In nearly all of these cases, the bypass reduced traffic through the downtown areas. This could be a bad thing, because fewer people are driving past the town's businesses. If businesses move near the new highway, it could lead to auto-centric "stroad" building at the edges of town.

The bypass could also be a blessing, since it means the main street can serve as a town center without also having to be a thoroughfare for long-distance traffic. This would encourage businesses that are oriented to the place rather than the convenience of the long-distance drivers (e.g. more groceries, hardware stores, restaurants and coffee shops instead of convenience stores and fast food franchises).

In fact, construction of the bypasses has had few noticeable impacts of either a positive or negative nature on these towns. They haven't generated a great deal of auto-oriented development at the edges, nor has the space they have created led to walkable urbanism in the town centers (though time may tell a different story, particularly in Mt. Pleasant). Cascade and Monticello have added population, while the other towns have lost population, but in relatively small amounts either way.

The bottom line is that bypasses are good for what they're designed to do, facilitate the movement of long-distance traffic. Towns can hope they'll also facilitate development of one kind or another, but on that score the recent record is unimpressive. Cedar Rapids, Lisbon and Mt. Vernon might argue that in an urban county population increases will fuel development in the newly-opened spaces, and they might be right. On the other hand, Route 13 was built around the east edge of Cedar Rapids and Marion in the 1960s, and widened to four lanes in the 1990s (Hancock 2018); development has been slow and limited (and heavy on the auto-oriented commercial).

EXTRA FUN NOTE: A new feature of Google Earth allows time lapse views of places. Watch the bypasses appear!