Category Archives: Highway Miscellaneous

Apr 06

Arkansas’ I-555 has blueprint for Des Moines beltway

Posted on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

On March 11, Arkansas got the fictional phone prefix interstate designation it has been seeking for a long time. US 63 from I-55 northwest to Jonesboro, which was upgraded to four lanes in the 2000s, officially became Interstate 555. Jonesboro … Continue reading →

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Apr 04

Videos, slides detail Council Bluffs plans for 2016

Posted on Monday, April 4, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

About 10 days ago the Iowa DOT held a meeting in Council Bluffs covering the upcoming construction for the decade-plus-long reconstruction and expansion of I-29 and I-80 there. The step-by-step meeting with some videos starts here; a PDF is here. … Continue reading →

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Feb 27

Top ‘structurally deficient’ bridges on replacement cycle

Posted on Saturday, February 27, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Getting attention this week was an update to a type of report that gets issued in various forms semi-regularly since the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007, regarding the condition of bridges nationwide. One-fifth of Iowa’s bridges, over 5000 … Continue reading →

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Feb 15

Mediapolis bypass, IA 78 interchange part of US 61 plans

Posted on Monday, February 15, 2016, at 11:00 AM by Jeff

Iowa’s last rural segment of US 61 that isn’t four lanes north of Keokuk is between Burlington and Grandview, and a meeting in Mediapolis on Tuesday is about closing that gap. The existing five-year plan has US 61 four-laned from … Continue reading →

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Feb 11

Great River Road to be signed like other Iowa byways

Posted on Thursday, February 11, 2016, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

I travel the whole thing and THEN it gets new pretty signs. May 14, 2010: The current style of Great River Road shields in Iowa is a square smaller than square highway shields. This is at the north end of … Continue reading →

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Feb 10

Keokuk no longer a ‘control city’ on I-172

Posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, at 10:05 AM by Jeff

April 20, 2008: Former sign at a road intersecting I-172 in Adams County, Illinois. I-172 is an interstate spur in far western Illinois connecting Quincy to Interstate 72. For decades, I-72 ended where I-172 began, until a new bridge across … Continue reading →

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Feb 04

Input wanted on improving I-80

Posted on Thursday, February 4, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

If you haven’t been all focused on the caucuses, you may have noticed a few news articles about the DOT undergoing an all-encompassing study on I-80. Right now, the study is about asking for input; it’s an “online public information … Continue reading →

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Feb 02

Clearview is dead

Posted on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

September 13, 2015: The exit sign for the new US 63 interchange with IA 3 is signed in Clearview. Note the “L”s especially, and how the lowercase letters aren’t that much shorter than the capitals. The interchange replaced a four-way … Continue reading →

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Jan 19

What if we swapped US 6 and 275 in Omaha?

Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2016, at 10:09 AM by Jeff

By the end of this year, Broadway through Council Bluffs will no longer be part of the Iowa highway system. US 6 will have to be taken off its straight route through the city and moved onto I-29 and I-80. After … Continue reading →

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Dec 29

Year in review: Completion of US 20 in Illinois and Indiana

Posted on Tuesday, December 29, 2015, at 3:00 PM by Jeff

October 9, 2015: US 12/20/45 share the road for a while on Mannheim (not Steamroller) Road. In October I went after one of the more prominent missing segments in my highway travels: US 20 between Rockford and about Portage, Indiana. I … Continue reading →

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