July 5, 2013: The original Lincoln Highway runs on IA 17 between E41 and 205th Street in Boone County. The elevator is part of West Central Cooperative.
There is a mile-long east-west segment of IA 17 that runs along old US 30, north of the four-lane, east of Boone. When IA 17 turns north again, there’s an at-grade railroad crossing right at a West Central Cooperative elevator. (The elevator is the last legacy of the town of Jordan.)
At a meeting earlier this week, the DOT presented options to reroute IA 17 in the area. All the options (PDF) have a railroad overpass with new connector to E41/old 30. One option has a gradual curve to line up the segments; the others keep right angles but the east-west segment would be north of the elevator.
The reroute is a good idea. Making IA 17 traffic turn at right angles is fine, and would be an improvement since the existing turn at the elevator is sharper than 90 degrees.
The signed Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway uses the 1913 alignment, crossing the railroad tracks back at R Avenue, going east on 205th Street, then south on IA 17, then east at Jordan, then crossing the railroad tracks again on U Avenue before heading east to Ames on 220th Street. That means it’s a north-south half-mile of 17 that is co-signed with the Lincoln, while it’s the east-west mile that used to be part of US 30. If the new 17 were to use 205th Street as its east-west mile (the “orange concept”), it would be the first time the Lincoln Highway in Iowa gained pavement in a very long time.