On southbound I-380 in Cedar Rapids, at the 27th Avenue SW overpass, there’s an overhead sign with the distance for the next, and last, city exit: 33rd Avenue SW. The bracket is designed to hold a sign with two lines on it, and until around 2009, it did. However, the bottom line remained empty until the sign was replaced with one that listed only 33rd. What happened?
I forget who asked me about this a long time ago, but I found the answer in the DOT plan archive. It’s the contract for signs on the “Cedar Valley Freeway” between 3rd and 33rd avenues SW, let in October 1973 for a segment that opened at the end of 1975.
The sign diagram (in glorious Futura font!) shows the sign did have two lines: “33rd Ave S W ¼ / U S 30 1¼”. However, because I-380 south of 33rd did not open until June 1976, the bottom line is marked “Future Legend to be Furnished with Contract.” The space never got filled in. US 30 was already there, in a two-lane that opened in 1953 and ended just west of I-380 at 6th Street SW. The section east of Bowling Street to IA 13 — the interchange was already there — was upgraded to four lanes in 1975, and then between Bowling and 6th the next year. (A detour for work on the latter, publicized in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on September 10, 1975, used Bowling, 50th Avenue SW, J Street SW, and 33rd to get to 6th.)
So, even though it was only a matter of months between when 380’s first cars went under 27th Avenue and over US 30, the “future legend” became a myth. The sign bracket remains, so perhaps the replacement for the Clearview sign could have a second line that shows “[30 shield] 1¼” or “Airport 5½”.