Interstate 35 travels through Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. In 2016, these 6 states and the Federal Highway Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding pledging to collaborate on best practices in right-of-way and other land management in support of pollinators and to increase public awareness of their role.
The I-35 route was named the Monarch Highway to celebrate the amazing and iconic butterfly species and its exceptional annual two-way migration, a critical part of which occurs along this route.
The integral veneer brickwork on the new overhead bridges will reinforce the Monarch Highway theme with its design features. In total, 7 bridges will be replaced in the Ankeny to Ames corridor, and each central supporting pier of those bridges will contain a unique illustrative closeup view of the Monarch’s wing pattern. The bricks portray individual wing scales, and the multiple brick colors recall the Monarch’s pigmentation in a sustainable way.
The abutment bricks illustrate a Monarch caterpillar as well as binary code. The 7 bridges will spell out “Monarch Highway” on the west and east ends of the bridges for both northbound and southbound I-35 using this “binary caterpillar” font.
Monarch Caterpillars with a Message
Each bridge has multi-colored brick “caterpillars” displayed at each corner. The caterpillars are also binary codes (the zeros and ones of common computer language) corresponding to letters. Together, the 7 new bridges between Ankeny and Ames will spell out “Monarch Highway” on the left and right sides of the bridges, for both northbound and southbound directions.
Monarch Highway Facts
- Iowa has 218 miles of Interstate 35, or about 14% of its 1565-mile total length.
- Current annual average daily traffic is over 45,000 vehicles per day.
- At a vehicle occupancy rate average of 1.64 to 1.68, that’s roughly 73,000 people per day passing through this section of Interstate 35.
- The estimated annual average daily traffic in 2045 is 103,000 or roughly 173,000 people per day.
Monarch Butterfly and Monarch Highway Inspirations
