Six weeks late is better than never, right?
My recent relocation made traveling to a highway opening in western Iowa a little more involved. But with an early morning ceremony Oct. 22, I likely would’ve been staying overnight in Council Bluffs either way. I got to Council Bluffs early enough before sunset to check out the recently opened I-29 ramps at the west I-80 interchange.
The ramp ahead and the flyover bridge opened in October. There is currently a separate exit from southbound I-29 to 24th Street before I-29 merges with I-80.
The ceremony was at the John Deere dealership just off the US 34 exit. It was a packed house, with plenty of municipal and construction officials from both sides of the river.
Intentionally or not, the governors were color-coordinated, wearing red ties with blue shirts under their suitcoats. Sen. Tom Harkin arrived just as the ceremony began. The ceremony started off with some “exchanges” of gifts, with Glenwood State Bank’s president rewarded for his long work on the project. Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds rattled off some of the facts about this bridge — 3276 feet long, 90 feet wide.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman got in some good-natured ribbing. He noted that both Branstad and Reynolds were there, but he couldn’t bring his lieutenant governor because Nebraska law states executive power would then go to the leader of the Senate. In Nebraska there are term limits, but “in Iowa you let your governor serve forever!” Finally he said he knows Branstad “wants to be on the winning team,” and they were both wearing red ties, and there’s a big upcoming game … so the governor of Nebraska presented the governor of Iowa with a Nebraska Cornhuskers hat.
(Is that the hook for finally making this post? Yes. Yes it is. BUTTPUNT!)
Harkin, making his last appearance as a standing senator at a ribbon-cutting as far as I know, praised Glenwood State Bank president Larry Winum for his tenacity on the project. Winum himself made pleas to get the levees in the area accredited — they are apparently six inches too short — and said Harkin had told him a bridge would take 35 years. “We did it in 20!” Harkin said that without Winum, this wouldn’t have happened.
Finally, the dignitaries cut a ceremonial ribbon, and everyone lined up to drive across the new bridge hours before it officially opened.
Left to right: Nebraska US Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, and Iowa US Sen. Tom Harkin cut a ceremonial ribbon for the US 34 Missouri River bridge.
Vehicles proceed from Iowa to Nebraska on the new US 34 bridge hours before a full opening to traffic Oct. 22.
After the ceremony, since I didn’t have to wait for the official opening time before traveling (phew), I did some driving around Mills County and headed back on US 34, IA 48, US 6, and IA 83 before picking up I-80.