Category Archives: Highway Miscellaneous

Dec 30

The decade in Iowa roads: Four-lane completions with a WTF cherry on top

November 4, 2019: From the Lincoln Highway in 2011 to the Jefferson Highway in 2019, Iowa’s scenic and historic byways received a more uniform, more visible signing scheme in the 2010s. Since the Second Great Decommissioning and completion of four-lane … Continue reading

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Nov 07

IA 333: The hot-potato highway

October 2, 2015: The beginning of IA 333 as seen from an I-29 offramp. The entire route, along with the town of Hamburg, was underwater in the spring of 2019. The Great Decommissioning of 1980 was the end result of … Continue reading

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Nov 06

IA 999: The untold story (5)

Looking at state maps in the early 1970s, it seems clear-cut. IA 333 runs from the Fremont/Page county line to 71, there’s a secret designation for the route to College Springs, and the absence of a 333 marker east of … Continue reading

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Nov 05

IA 999: The untold story (4)

Southern Page County did its damnedest to put itself on a paved path to prosperity. The Highway 333 Association formed in the summer of 1959 with the goal of getting the road from US 275 near Hamburg to US 71 … Continue reading

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Nov 04

IA 999: The untold story (3)

On the official state transportation map, the highway on the corner of Iowa’s floor was stable for 20 years. There was only one change to IA 333 marked between 1943 and 1964: It was straightened to miss College Springs and … Continue reading

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Nov 01

IA 999: The untold story (2)

This excerpt of Missouri football’s 1897 schedule from the 2017 football records book shows one of two games played at Amity College. The meeting appears to be part of a barnstorming tour; the Tigers’ game in College Springs comes three days … Continue reading

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Oct 31

IA 999: The untold story (1)

For decades, the Iowa Highway Commission wanted to get rid of it. For decades, residents of southern Page County begged the state to pave it. Iowa Highway 999 was both an offshoot of and substitute for Iowa Highway 333, and … Continue reading

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Oct 15

Interstate 880 coming to Iowa!?!

July 24, 2019: For a limited time only The fall meeting of the AASHTO Special Committee on Route Numbering, which took place Oct. 5, has a doozy of a bombshell. Immediate reaction: W.T.F. Item No. 5 – State: Iowa Route: I-880 Action: … Continue reading

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Oct 03

Iowa’s interstate ‘works of art’

(Related to yesterday, kind of!) October 7, 2013: The I-80 Tiffin westbound rest area’s theme is “Education”. Notice the ISU logo a matter of miles from the U of I campus. (There’s one for UNI too.) The website Roadtrippers has … Continue reading

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Oct 02

New Ames flyover ramp has secret message

You know how ancient peoples like the Vikings left communication methods that we’re still trying to figure out today? This is kind of like that, from the Cretaceous Period of computing otherwise known as the 1970s. In fact, the ramp’s … Continue reading

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