Stoner v. Iowa State Highway Commission

This is a condemnation proceeding whereby the State Highway Commission acquired a strip of ground 17 feet wide on each side of highway 161 which separates the plaintiffs’ 80-acre farm in the middle, leaving one 40 on the east side of the road and the other 40 on the west side of the road. The purpose of acquiring this additional strip was to widen the 66-foot road which would enable the highway commission to widen the shoulders, broaden and level out the ditches and cut down the embankments for the purpose of not only making the highway more safe for travel but to enable the planting of trees…