New map ‘officially’ released; Dows welcome center is kaput


September 23, 2002: Iowa Welcome Center signage on I-35 for the Dows exit (former IA 72).

Jason Hancock recently saw the signs for the Welcome Center in Dows had been removed from I-35. Turns out the end of the welcome center was hidden in plain sight — it’s not marked on the 2015 state map. It’s still listed on the state website, however.

Having a welcome center 60 miles from the state border and 3 miles from the interstate didn’t make much sense, so I don’t think this portends anything bad for Iowa’s welcome centers overall. The welcome center was mentioned in passing in a 2011 Mason City Globe-Gazette story about Dows.

As for the other part of this blog post, the state map has been online for a few weeks now, but a press release for the paper map came out yesterday. It confirms that Iowa is on a two-year cycle for maps now, so the 2015 map will be for 2015-16. 1992 and 1993 were the last years that a paper map was not produced.

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