Live cameras in Burlington, United States

Burlington is a river city on the west bank of the Mississippi in southeastern Iowa and the county seat of Des Moines County. It was founded in 1833, named after Burlington, Vermont, and served as a territorial capital twice in its first years, first for Wisconsin Territory and then for the new Iowa Territory in 1838. In the steamboat era it was a busy port, and brick warehouses, churches and mansions from that time still line the bluffs. The 2020 census counted about 24,000 residents, and the small micropolitan area includes West Burlington, Middletown and Gulfport, Illinois.

The town's most famous street is Snake Alley, a brick lane with five switchbacks crammed into one steep block, often called the crookedest street in the world. Each summer the city hosts Burlington Steamboat Days, a music festival on the riverfront.

Views from both sides of the river

Two state agencies supply the views on this page. Iowa DOT contributes traffic cameras and road-weather stations, which pair a camera with sensors for pavement temperature, wind and precipitation and are especially useful on winter mornings. Illinois DOT adds cameras from its Gateway system on the far side of the river, around the Great River Bridge approach and Gulfport. U.S. Route 34 crosses the city as a freeway and continues over the Mississippi into Illinois, and U.S. Route 61 runs north toward Muscatine and south toward Fort Madison. Neither agency streams video; each picture is swapped for a newer one every few minutes.

Burlington is on Central Time and observes daylight saving time from March to early November. Winters are cold with snow and ice, and spring can bring high water on the Mississippi, sometimes visible on cameras near the river. Summer evenings stay light until about half past eight, while December daylight is gone before five.

Across the river, the farm country of western Illinois stretches toward the Illinois River. Downstream, Fort Madison has a reconstructed 1808 frontier fort, and Nauvoo, the historic Mormon town, sits on the Illinois bank a little farther south.

Sources: Burlington, Iowa - Wikipedia · Iowa 511 · Getting Around Illinois (IDOT cameras).