May 14

I-74 bridge monument will be preserved

Posted on Thursday, May 14, 2015, at 10:01 AM by Jeff

The official name of the I-74 bridge is the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, in memory of those who served in World War I. When replacement for the 1935 and 1959 spans is built at the end of this decade, the monument will be relocated, reports WQAD.

Pictures of the plaques and the bridge are viewsble at historicbridges.org.

The marker is in the southeast corner of the intersection of 14th Street (the NB I-74 offramp) and State Street (NB US 67). Semi-recent Google Street View images show trees in the park area, but those have recently been taken down, as you can see in the video.

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on I-74 bridge monument will be preserved
May 13

Five-year plan includes completion of four-lane US 20

Posted on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, at 10:20 AM by Jeff


June 25, 2006: This little four-lane segment in Iowa, the US 20/59 duplex at Holstein, may not be isolated for much longer.

The Iowa DOT released its draft five-year plan Tuesday (PDF) (press release), and the entire segment of US 20 in western Iowa that isn’t four lanes has been added for construction. The split is at the west Ida/Sac county line, with the portion west to Correctionville programmed for paving in 2016 and east of the line in 2017, closing with the final two lanes from Moville to Correctionville in 2018. If that happens on time, the entire US 20 corridor in Iowa (save for the Julien Dubuque Bridge) would be four lanes 60 years after completion of the first rural segment outside of Moville. (Oct. 19, 2018. There’s the goal.)

Four-laning US 30 in Tama and Benton counties, plus an interchange on Nevada’s west side, are among the projects (with US 20, above) added specifically because of the increase in the state’s gas tax. Curiously, large ROW acquisition is not programmed in Benton County until 2020, perhaps indicating that the grade/pave in 2018 is only for two lanes. Paving in Tama County would be done in 2020. Here are highlights of other projects in the plan:

  • The interchange for US 65/IA 117/IA 330 will be built in 2017-18. Before that, “an intersection conflict warning system is being installed” and should be done before Memorial Day (KCCI). A news story from KIMT in December about a similar system in Minnesota and a PDF from Blue Earth County MN offer a glimpse of what this may look like.
  • Four-laning US 61 from Burlington to the south end of a future Mediapolis bypass, over the next five years (added with new gas tax money)
  • Dubuque’s Southwest Arterial, over the next five years
  • Council Bluffs and Sioux City interstate reconstruction, over the next five years
  • The new I-74 bridge and related construction, in 2018-20
  • The Mount Vernon-Lisbon bypass and IA 100 extension, both over the next four years
  • Rebuilding US 63 in northern Waterloo, changing a railroad underpass to an overpass, over the next two years
  • IA 58/Viking Road interchange in 2017 (an overview of the most recent plan for the IA 58 corridor can be seen here)
  • US 52 Mississippi River bridge replacement next year; an overflow bridge will be replaced later, so get ready for multiple summers of significant detours
  • On I-380, an interchange with Forevergreen Road will be built in 2019 just before a multi-year project begins to replace the cloverleaf interchange with I-80.
  • Also on the cloverleaf front, I-35 and US 30 have work planned for the middle of the period.
  • Six-laning I-35 between IA 160 and the new exit on Ankeny’s north side, in 2018-20
  • IA 146 through Le Grand will be rebuilt in 2018.
  • Conversion of IA 415/NE 66th Street from an old interchange to an intersection, which I mentioned at the beginning of this year, won’t happen until 2019.
  • IA 98’s last hurrah will be its repaving, in 2017, with transfer of jurisdiction planned.
Posted in Construction, Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Five-year plan includes completion of four-lane US 20
May 12

Remembering Farragut, Hamburg school buildings

Posted on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The brick once-high-school buildings in Farragut and Hamburg, built in 1924 and 1928, respectively, will close at the end of this year, KMA Radio reports. (Intro, Farragut, Hamburg, conclusion.) The linked articles interview school officials about the inevitability, and teachers for the memories. The closures were required for both school districts to continue whole-grade sharing and functioning, period.

There will be an open house in Farragut Friday at 4, KMA says.

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on Remembering Farragut, Hamburg school buildings
May 11

Ottumwa has two empty school buildings

Posted on Monday, May 11, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

A story from KTVO says that one unused school building in Ottumwa (Walsh) “has run the full course of useable life” and another (Wildwood) would cost millions of dollars to renovate for non-class use.

A short Internet search shows that Wildwood Elementary closed after 2013-14 but still is the site for high school softball. A different school building (Pickwick) will be demolished this year.

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on Ottumwa has two empty school buildings
May 08

RAGBRAI to pass Kinnick Stadium, maybe UNI-Dome

Posted on Friday, May 8, 2015, at 10:06 AM by Jeff

Weeks after the 2015 RAGBRAI route was announced in March, the finalized route in and out of Coralville was added to the map. On the Saturday morning of the ride, bicyclists will go past “the corner of Melrose and Melrose” to see Kinnick Stadium and then the Old Capitol. (No word on if there will be donation jars for Kirk Ferentz’s buyout.) This route will also eliminate any ambiguity over whether University Heights has been visited by RAGBRAI.

The route inside Cedar Falls remains ambiguous, but with the University of Northern Iowa prominently figuring in the city’s RAGBRAI website and an exit via Hudson Road, passing by the UNI-Dome wouldn’t be hard to do.

Here’s my list of every town visited by every RAGBRAI.

Posted in Maps | Comments Off on RAGBRAI to pass Kinnick Stadium, maybe UNI-Dome
May 07

Cleghorn school will close

Posted on Thursday, May 7, 2015, at 10:05 AM by Jeff

The 94-year-old school building in Cleghorn will educate students for one more month. The Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn district will close the building, used for fourth through sixth grades, to save $130,000 a year, says the Sioux City Journal. The district will still use the gym in Cleghorn.

MMC was in talks with Remsen-Union earlier this school year, but whole-grade sharing proposals fell apart over where the high school would be. Now, R-U is in a dire enough position that it’s been talking to Le Mars, which is an all-give-and-no-take situation. (Two-way sharing is a non-starter, the Le Mars Sentinel was told, and a name change would be supremely doubtful.)

Cleghorn is the fifth Iowa town this school year to be faced with the closure of its only public school, the same number as last year.

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on Cleghorn school will close
May 06

Iconic Stanton water tower taken down

Posted on Wednesday, May 6, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


September 17, 2014: This water tower in Stanton has looked like a coffee pot for 45 years.

The water tower in Stanton painted and tweaked to look like a coffee pot has been taken down, reports the Omaha World-Herald. It will be moved to the Swedish Heritage and Cultural Center after the cost of repairs became too much, the paper says. There is a newer tower, shaped like a coffee cup, on the south side of town.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Iconic Stanton water tower taken down
May 05

2015 Iowa highway map released online

Posted on Tuesday, May 5, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Two months later than expected, the official state transportation map is available through iowadotmaps.com. Changes are minimal, but Tama County had a few of them.

  • The Iowa Juvenile Home is no longer marked.
  • The Tama-Toledo “urban area” is no longer extant (no yellow area).
  • T69 north of D65 is marked as paved, although it’s hard to tell because the lettering itself takes up most of the line. So is A26 in Allamakee County.
  • IA 152, IA 370, and old US 34 to Plattsmouth are now county roads.
  • IA 92 is rerouted around Muscatine both on the main map and inset.
  • N64 to Athelstan in Taylor County, long marked as paved and marked as bituminous in a 1997 county map, is gravel. The road itself been gravel since at least fall 2009, as seen on Google Street View. It’s very possible this was a reversion in the 2000s, after the community disincorporated.
  • Speaking of disincorporation, Millville’s new status is so reflected.
  • One piece of the past hanging around: Old IA 60 at the Minnesota state line still appears as a black line, although the road literally was obliterated after completion of the four-lane.

The state will be switching to an every-two-years pattern on paper maps. This KCRG story leads me to think that 2015 is the first two-year printed map. (That may also explain the delay.) Printing maps in odd-numbered years would best sync with changes in the governor’s office.

Posted in Maps | Comments Off on 2015 Iowa highway map released online
May 04

Options out for major makeover of IA 141 interchange

Posted on Monday, May 4, 2015, at 10:37 AM by Jeff

Back in ancient times (the 1970s), “Rider Corner” was a modest rural trumpet interchange on I-35/80, named after the railroad siding at Meredith Drive.

Now, it’s a bustling suburban area, with a SuperTarget nearby and an underpowered four-lane to the north. On Tuesday, the DOT will hold a public meeting to take a step toward redesigning the area, along with adding an interchange at 100th Street.

The alternatives are varied. They start with the addition of a simple flyover ramp from 35/80 to 141 plus a diamond interchange at 100th, and add flyovers and frontage roads from there.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Options out for major makeover of IA 141 interchange
May 02

Marshalltown makes the Onion

Posted on Saturday, May 2, 2015, at 10:23 AM by Jeff

Iowa Restaurant Patron Can Remember Every Breakfast Ruined By Presidential Candidates

America’s Finest News Source made a slight misstep with the Nixon reference, as Iowa’s “first in the nation” caucuses didn’t become A Thing until 1976.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Marshalltown makes the Onion