 Interstate 80 ( I @-@ 80 ) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States , stretching from San Francisco , California , to Teaneck , New Jersey . In Iowa , the highway travels west to east through the center of the state . It enters the state at the Missouri River in Council Bluffs and heads east through the southern Iowa drift plain . In the Des Moines area , I @-@ 80 meets up with I @-@ 35 and the two routes bypass Des Moines together . On the northern side of Des Moines , the interstates split and I @-@ 80 continues east . In eastern Iowa , it provides access to the University of Iowa in Iowa City . Northwest of the Quad Cities in Walcott is Iowa 80 , the World 's Largest Truckstop . I @-@ 80 passes along the northern edge of Davenport and Bettendorf and leaves Iowa via the Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River into Illinois . 
