The previous post talked about a bridge on Correctionville Road being the last rural remnant of very early paving on the road that became US 20 in Woodbury County. There’s one urban remnant, too, whose time is limited but we don’t know how long yet.
The Sioux City Journal has an article about the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors’ meeting earlier this month that pitted replacement of a county road bridge just north of Moville vs. repaving the frontage road on the south side of Moville. The supervisors stuck with the plan to replace the bridge this year.
But that frontage road is very important, too. Its mile or so length retains the concrete that was poured in 1924 for the road between Moville and Correctionville. The short piece of US 20 that was four-laned in the 1950s bypassed this segment just to the south.
The very interesting thing is, this appears to be one of the first bypasses, if not THE first, of already existing pavement. A DOT report “100 Years of Concrete Pavement in Iowa” reproduces a list of pavements before 1922. The last entry says “Thru Moville. Later abandoned for a route through the S. city limits.” The original route was on Main Street, continuing east on what is now 150th Street, then south on Ida Avenue. The paving in 1924 favored the south route and angled the road that today branches off from the pre-2018 end of the four-lane.
(Another known case of early pavement being bypassed: The Lincoln Highway/US 30 moved to the south side of the railroad tracks to bypass Mechanicsville in Linn County. Mechanicsville had already paved the road through the city.)