Highway 30 bypass open around Mount Vernon and Lisbon

MOUNT VERNON - The four-lane Highway 30 bypass around Mount Vernon and Lisbon opened Friday.

'The purpose of this project is to provide a safe, free-flowing, east-west route for the efficient transportation of people, goods and services,” Iowa DOT District 6 planner Catherine Cutler said in an email to The Gazette last year.

'The project will improve the capacity of U.S. 30, improve local access and safety and improve roadway conditions.”

The $28 million bypass widens 8 miles of highway from west of Mount Vernon (at Wilcox Road) to east of Lisbon (at Charles Avenue).

The bypass swings south of the original Highway 30, with interchanges for the cities, and redirects traffic away from schools, IDOT has said.

The bypass is one section of Iowa DOT's plan to widen Highway 30 to four lanes across Iowa. The $108 million project started in 2007.

Drivers still should be aware of temporary lane closures as construction continues on Highway 30 in 2020, an Iowa DOT news release said.

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