Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Iowa

Welcome to the Iowa task force of WikiProject U.S. Roads! This task force aims to facilitate the development of a set of standardized, well-written, and well-sourced articles on all state-maintained highways in Iowa.

Article structure and standards
This task force has generally adopted the standard USRD article structure found at WP:USRD/STDS. Please consult this document first. The Iowa task force standards build on and clarify how the USRD standards apply to Iowa. All state highway articles are to be named Iowa Highway X. Please see WP:SRNC and Naming conventions/Numbered highways for discussion on this topic.

Route names and abbreviations

 * Interstates:Interstate 80 → I-80
 * U.S. Highways:U.S. Highway 75 (though WP:USSH requires the article to be called U.S. Route 75 in Iowa) → US 75
 * State highways:Iowa Highway 64 → Iowa 64
 * County roads:County Road R38 → CR R38
 * All state highways before 1926:Primary Road No. 1 → No. 1

Lead
The lead section should begin by stating the highway's name (in bold, per the Manual of Style) and the commonly accepted abbreviations (Iowa X, and any other names that are used). State that the highway is maintained by the U.S. state of Iowa. Give the length, using Convert to convert miles to kilometers. If the highway is very long, give a very general description of the route (endpoints, part of state it runs through).

Junction list/exit list
All highways must include a junction list, following the standards outlined in WP:RJL. This is most easily achieved through use of the jct, jcttop, IAint, and jctbtm templates. Iowa articles generally use the optional color scheme outlined in RJL; remember, to meet accessibility standards, a remark must be made in the "Notes" column explaining the color usage. Always use the "Iowa X" abbreviation in the junction list for consistency.

Infobox
All Iowa articles should include Infobox road. Please try to fill out as much information as possible. However, the "cities" parameter is no longer used within the United States; using it will not cause the cities to show up.

Use the below example formats for displaying endpoints in the infobox. Change these to suit the situation as needed. Use "in", "at", or "near" to give the reader an approximate location to a populated area. Remember, the infobox is supposed to be there for readers to get at-a-glance information about the route. If you have notes on the endpoint that do not fit into these formats, then note them in the lead and the route description. For more lengthy endpoint information, describe it in the route description.


 * Endpoints at highways in the heart of a city or town: Iowa Highway 127: in Logan
 * Endpoints within city limits but on the edge of the city or town: Iowa Highway 130: at Davenport
 * Endpoints at highways in unincorporated areas: Iowa Highway 1: near Anamosa
 * Endpoints at state lines, continuing as numbered highway: U.S. Route 20 in Iowa: at the Illinois state line
 * Endpoints at unnumbered (town/city/county) roads in minor town/city limits: Iowa Highway 85: Montezuma city limits

Resources

 * Iowa DOT traffic book lengths and AADT data
 * Iowa DOT maps many options
 * Historical Iowa maps most years dating back to 1919 available!
 * Iowa Geographic Map Server different map layers dating back to the 1930s, includes topographic maps

Checklists and assessment tools

 * WP:1.0 tools
 * Articles by quality
 * Reassessment log
 * Redirects

Unreliable sources
These sources can be used, but they should be replaced with reliable sources when they come available.
 * Iowa Highways Page by Jason Hancock
 * Iowa Highway Ends by Jeff Morrison

Current highways
This project's scope covers all state-maintained highways in Iowa. To clarify, this means roads maintained by Iowa DOT. City, county, and privately-maintained roads are not within the scope of this project; WikiProject U.S. Streets is more appropriate for city streets anyway.

For convenience, here is a chart of all active state numbered highways. See the main category for a complete listing of all articles that fall under this project.

Former highways
Former highways can be added as well, but only if enough information about them can be collected. Be especially sure to cite sources on these articles.

Categories

 * Category:State highways in Iowa
 * Category:U.S. Highways in Iowa
 * Category:Interstate Highways in Iowa

Lists

 * List of Iowa state highways
 * List of U.S. Highways in Iowa
 * List of Interstate Highways in Iowa

Images

 * and are already set up to use the most up-to-date shields for all time periods, but visit commons:Category:Iowa Highway Shields.

Photographs of Iowa road signs are always welcome. These should be uploaded to Commons and filed under commons:Category:State highways in Iowa.

Task force membership
If you would like to show off your membership in this task force, add: