Iowa roads are known for being straight. By and large, the roads around the state are laid out in a practical, functional, easily navigable grid. Isn’t it ironic, then, that straight-laced Iowa is home to the most crooked road in the world?
Feeling in the mood for something playful and historic that blends driving skills with good-natured midwest novelty? Pay a visit to Iowa’s Snake Alley, located in Burlington, and you might think you are staring down a rally car track designed for a movie set.
In fact, in 1940, Ripley's "Believe It, Or Not!" column called it "the crookedest street in the world."
In reality, the serpentine path was designed for horses in 1894, and the artful brickwork pattern and river-like gracefulness was an attempt to assist these creatures with footing for the laborious climb up the hill.
Part of the modern charm of this alley is the way the bricks and surrounding houses seem almost petrified in time. It's a bit like stepping back into the nineteenth century!
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The 21% grade (12% is considered very steep for local roads) and 275-foot length proved to be too much of a climb, and the roadway which was designed as a shortcut to the business district became one-way as it remains to the present.
Yet even in its early years, the charm of this street was recognized and featured on postcards. It's reminiscent of a vineyard path built into a hillside, and the city has landscaped in such a way as to accentuate the unique appeal of this crooked street.
You can experience it for yourself whether inching down in your car, racing other cyclists up its torturous grade in the annual Snake Alley Criterium, soaking in visual arts on the Father’s Day art show, or just taking an afternoon stroll.
If Snake Alley brings you to the historic south-eastern Iowa town of Burlington, the county seat of Des Moines County since 1838, consider swinging by the Garrett-Phelps House Museum located alongside Snake Alley or bring your young at heart to the Des Moines County Heritage Center Museum. One thing is for sure, after heading home from Snake Alley no road will seem quite as crooked as before.
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