Author Archives: Jeff

Oct 14

North Dakota Highway 91

ND 91 is really short, reports KFYR-TV in Bismarck. (Video un-embeddable.) The route in Harvey, along US 52 between Jamestown and Minot, is signed at 0.28 miles. That is just a hair longer than IA 405 was signed 1980-2003. I … Continue reading

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Oct 12

Notes for October 2020 letting

Things I noticed about the October 2020 DOT bid letting, scheduled for next week: One sign project is concentrated in two areas: Cedar Rapids and Jones County. The former is replacing a lot of gore signs (the “EXIT” where you … Continue reading

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Notes for October 2020 letting
Oct 08

A matter of perspective

Here is an aerial view of most of the town of Gladbrook. IA 96 is at the bottom, 2nd Street at the top, school in the middle. Now here’s an aerial view of the campus for College Community School District … Continue reading

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Oct 06

Iowa’s 1920 highway system: Waiting for a promotion

Here are the smaller routes that, in 1926, did NOT get included in the new federal highway system, but were incorporated into it in the next 15 years. IA 25, Winterset to Adel, was a middleman between two long north-south … Continue reading

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Oct 04

The sixth seal has been opened

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig … Continue reading

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Oct 02

‘Symphony of Iowa’ scavenger hunt

The Cedar Rapids Gallery of Art has selected 125 works to be on display for a 125th anniversary exhibit, reports the Gazette. That will go through mid-January. Among the works is a big one I didn’t know about, “Symphony of Iowa … Continue reading

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Oct 01

Casey’s had dropped hint on brand redesign

Here’s a screencap from an ad during the Kansas State-Oklahoma game on Sept. 26: I immediately wondered, is Casey’s changing its logo? I was holding off on a blog post to get the Oklahoma game stuff out. I didn’t know … Continue reading

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Sep 29

The first time*

There’s going to be a first this week for Iowa State football: A Saturday night game on ABC with a nationwide audience. All it took was a plague and sidelining 40% of power-conference football teams to make it happen. Now, there … Continue reading

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Sep 28

The last time

It’s Oklahoma week (as of the time of this post, anyway), meaning it’s that time of year again: Time to contemplate man’s and woman’s struggle against an indifferent universe, a story of futility punctuated by just enough hope for the … Continue reading

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Sep 24

Department of Not-Quite-Redundancy Department, Bank Acronym Edition

The Webster City Daily Freeman-Journal reported last week that a bank from there opened a branch in Tama. The bank’s name in question is WCF Financial. The initials got me to pondering the name, after a brief moment of wondering why … Continue reading

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