Pundt Agriculture, Inc. v. Iowa Department of Transportation

UHLENHOPP, Justice.

In this appeal we consider the propriety of a decision by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) to construct Iowa Highway 149 on a diagonal route.

Plaintiffs are farmers who by various procedural devices challenged DOT’s choice of the location for a highway to link the Amana Colonies with United States Interstate 80. On October 28,1975, the Highway Division of DOT presented the DOT Commission with three alternative routes. The first route was designed for speeds of 60 miles per hour and followed an existing north-south right-of-way for virtually all of its 5.4-mile…