Mar 03

Photos from the edges of Iowa

Posted on Friday, March 3, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For those of you here for the first time… Hi.

IF
October 1, 2015: Murray Hill Scenic Overlook, northeast of Little Sioux, in the Loess Hills. No highways, just a scenic picture.

In early fall 2015 I took an eight-day trip around Iowa, and I mean around — I did a circumnavigation of the state. However, it’s only now that I have worked on photos from that trip for the website.

Here’s a condensed map that shows all the locations that got at least one photo. (I’ve remarked that projections of Iowa often tip upward on the west side; this really shows it.)

In list form, the rundown on the Mississippi River: Business US 61 (Keokuk), US 218, US 161, IA 404, Business US 61 (Fort Madison), IA 99, IA 305 (from June), IA 92, US 67, IA 136, IA 64, IA 62, IA 32, IA 386, IA 340, Business US 18, IA 76, IA 364, IA 26 (both ends). In the middle is US 218 at the Iowa/Minnesota line. Then, starting in Dickinson County and working west/south: IA 86, IA 219, IA 238, IA 237, IA 339, IA 9 West/NW corner of Iowa, IA 10, IA 12, IA 403, IA 3, US 77 (Military Road), IA 141, IA 324, IA 37, IA 300, IA 362, IA 165, US 275/IA 92, IA 978, IA 385, IA 239, IA 333, US 275, and US 71.

Phew. Some of those pages haven’t had photos added to them for three or four leap years.

If you get to those pages and see any broken image links, let me know.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Photos from the edges of Iowa
Mar 02

Rider Corner meeting March 9

Posted on Thursday, March 2, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The addition of a flyover ramp from northbound I-35/80 to IA 141 and two ramps to/from Meredith Drive are the subjects of a DOT meeting March 9 in Urbandale. Three maps and two HD animated renderings are at the PIM site. (The animations are very large.)

The most interesting part of the animations may be the signs at the beginnings and ends. There’s a giant BGS at the two-lane exit to the flyover, with through traffic for I-35/80 marked with upward-pointing arrows (a very stupid MUTCD change) and Minneapolis/Chicago listed instead of Minneapolis/Davenport. West/southbound, it starts at the future 100th Street exit and goes nearly all the way to Douglas Avenue, where there’s a sign that says “80 West / Omaha” at the very end, not including Council Bluffs.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Rider Corner meeting March 9
Mar 01

Crescent school KEPT OPEN

Posted on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In a reversal of how these things usually go, the Council Bluffs school board voted to keep Crescent Elementary School open Tuesday night. It’s a Mardi Gras miracle!

Parents had very vocally fought to keep the building open (stories: Nonpareil, World-Herald) and the district listened, at least for now.

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Feb 28

KCCI, KETV about to be kicked off satellite – again

Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For the second time this calendar year, the parent company of KCCI and KETV is in a retransmission dispute with a pay-TV provider. At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day, KCCI and other Hearst stations were pulled from DirecTV and not restored for about a week.

Now, the dispute is with Dish, and KCCI could be pulled off that satellite provider tonight.

Iowa had gone for a little while without any stations actually being dropped, but this pair of problems returns us back to the “new normal” tug-of-war, I guess. (And the customer always loses.)

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Feb 27

A documentary I want to make

Posted on Monday, February 27, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


July 21, 2012: Everly’s welcome sign. I mentioned Everly’s unique nickname in a 2015 blog post and someone has set up a website about the Cattlefeederettes’ six-on-six history.

With the girls’ state basketball tournament starting, I though I would share an idea for what in a far-fetched world would be a “30 for 30” type sports special: The Queen and Her Court.

It would be about Iowa’s six-on-six girls’ basketball tradition, but about more than that. It would also be about the buildings themselves, how they influenced student life and the way the sport was played and what effects those old gyms had on players and fans. How many gyms currently used for high school games on a regular basis, or any games, still have the special in-bounds line? (This isn’t necessarily a rhetorical question. I’m curious.)

In reality, something like this is more suited for Iowa Public Television. The thing is, IPTV has recently done it…sort of. My idea sounds a lot like what you’d get from a mashup of “More Than a Game” and “Lost Schools.”

With some schools using sales-tax and PPEL money to build new/larger gyms, and others closing, the number of active or available Iowa gyms that once hosted six-on-six games is continually decreasing. There’s more uniformity in design now. The landscape for high school sports has changed so much that the rationale for having separate boys’ and girls’ athletic organizations is questioned. (The existence of the IGHSAU is a testament to Iowa’s belief in what, for much of the 20th century, was a progressive or even radical concept — that girls should be allowed to play basketball.)

The upcoming year would be the best time to put together such a show because 2018 is the 50th anniversary of Iowa’s “greatest game ever played” (Union-Whitten 113, Everly 107) and the 25th anniversary of the last six-on-six tournament in Iowa history.

Posted in Schools, Sports | Comments Off on A documentary I want to make
Feb 24

West Broadway reconstruction starts in March

Posted on Friday, February 24, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

While US 6 signs may not be prevalent along its new route via I-80 in Council Bluffs, the city is moving ahead with rebuilding West Broadway, the Nonpareil reports. The city will use the $20 million the state gave it to take the street off its hands.

(Refresher: I’m promoting the idea to swap US 6 and 275 through Omaha-Council Bluffs.)

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on West Broadway reconstruction starts in March
Feb 23

M Avenue bridges near Traer to be replaced in 2018

Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

IF
October 30, 2015: The northern of two 1915 bridges on M Avenue, border between Crystal and Perry townships, across Four Mile Creek (which is longer than that). The southern bridge is across Wolf Creek.

Hyper, hyper, hyper-local. — Ed.

Two century-old pony truss bridges on gravel M Avenue north of US 63 are scheduled to be replaced in 2018. Here’s coverage from last year about the approval of the five-year plan.

This has been on the Tama County supervisors’ plan for a while, and while I was waiting for it to get closer since project times can be moved, there’s another hook for this blog post: The two bridges are among the thousands marked in a nationwide interactive graphic from the Washington Post of structurally deficient bridges. Iowa had the most deficient bridges of any state in 2016, according to a report from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (mentioned in a Council Bluffs Nonpareil article).

Posted in Construction, Tama County | Comments Off on M Avenue bridges near Traer to be replaced in 2018
Feb 22

A complete history of the Rembrandt school district

Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
July 23, 2009: When the Rembrandt school was torn down in 2002, the gym was left and the former edge sided up. An identification stone from the building was preserved.

An alumnus of the former Rembrandt High School has created a comprehensive history of school reorganization around the tiny town in Buena Vista County. There’s an article about it in the Storm Lake Pilot Tribune (which is how I found it). The link is 404’d but if you go to the site you can find the PDF — heads up, it’s a Google Document.

The history contains all the major news articles about the area’s history from country schools to the present, including the carving up of the nearby Highview district in the late 1950s, a failed attempt to merge with Albert City-Truesdale, the lengthy timeline and legal thicket that preceded creation of the Sioux Rapids-Rembrandt district, a failed tripleheader merger that pulled Clay Central in, and AC-T’s sending its 7-12 students to Sioux Central through 2025.

This heavily researched document contains basically everything I want to know and look for on a school district. I wish there were more like it.

The history contradicts the Sioux Rapids school district’s website on the last year for South Clay High School; South Clay began sending 7-12 students to other schools in 1993, not 1998. The earlier year is also backed up by a Spencer Daily Reporter article from 2009. My timeline has been adjusted accordingly.

There is also a PDF about historic roads and construction in the Storm Lake-Sioux Rapids corridor, including the history of IA 351. Rather than direct-linking to the very large file, I’ll point to the page it can be found.

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on A complete history of the Rembrandt school district
Feb 21

Harcourt corner to become four-way stop

Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The west junction of US 169 and IA 175 on the north side of Harcourt will become a four-way stop, the Fort Dodge Messenger reports. A number of accidents is the impetus behind the change, the DOT says.

This would, believe it or not, be the only second stop sign for westbound IA 175 between IA 17 and Mapleton. (Eastbound stops at the reconfigured US 71/old IA 196 intersection, but westbound just turns left.)

CORRECTION: Westbound 175 stops at US 71 in Auburn — but eastbound 175 does not.

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Harcourt corner to become four-way stop
Feb 20

Iowa newspapers to be archived, digitized

Posted on Monday, February 20, 2017, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

YAY!

Under the authority of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, the State Historical Society has signed a 5-year contract to loan the newspapers to the Advantage Companies, a Cedar Rapids business with a division dedicated to the preservation and digital access of historical newspapers. Advantage will take on the ambitious new project at no cost to the state, and ownership of the physical newspapers will remain with the State Historical Society.

Kyle Munson also wrote about this in Sunday’s Register.

Newspapers have been set aside in the Historical Building waiting to be archived for nearly a decade, ever since the process was put on hold in 2009. I assume or at least hope that these recent papers are part of the deal.

Advantage has already archived papers from many communities across Iowa — the UNI Library has a page full of links — and I have been deep-diving into those wells occasionally. (The website formatting changed a bit last year, making it flaky on some browsers.)

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Iowa newspapers to be archived, digitized