Fifty-five years after a railroad underpass opened to save US 63 from an at-grade intersection, the process is going to be reversed.
The Iowa DOT says US 63 will close Monday from US 218 to Airline Highway (official) and Franklin to Newell/Conger streets (actual) for a project that won’t wrap up until Thanksgiving 2019. This will make all north-south ventures through the Waterloo area not via US 218 bothersome, since the SPUI at IA 58 and Viking Road is being built at the same time!*
An all-new 63 will be built OVER the railroad. The underpass that opened in late 1963** needed pumps to keep floodwaters out. In 2015, a bird shorted out an electrical transformer powering the pumps, and in 2017, the transformer went down again.
*Meanwhile, it’s not as bad as it could be for Denver: Its football opponents the next two years will all be west and north, but there will be headaches getting to Waterloo Columbus and La Porte City for NICL events.
**”Plan Formal Opening of Highway 63,” Waterloo Courier, 10/27/63