Nov 23

Ice Station Cyclone

Posted on Saturday, November 23, 2013, at 12:46 PM by Jeff

In the past 12 hours, the National Weather Service has downgraded the expected temperature at kickoff in Ames again, to single digits. The previous record low kickoff temperature was 17°. This means that 2013 will have both the coldest and hottest games in Jack Trice Stadium history. (The hottest in Ames was in 1955.)

Des Moines will likely tie its mark for the second-coldest high temperature for Nov. 23; the airport recorded a high of 20° about 2 AM, which was also the high in 1970. (Record: 13° in 1898).

Today is also the coldest game in Hawkeye home football history. The Iowa-Michigan kickoff was 17° with a 21-mph wind; the previous coldest game was 23° in 1926.

The coaches’ interviews at halftime could be one word: “Brr.”

UPDATE: Officially 8° at kickoff and 1° at the end of the game.

ISU’s 34-0 win against Kansas is the Cyclones’ first conference shutout since 2001 Baylor. For a second, you have to go all the way back to a 24-0 blanking of a pre-Snyder Kansas State in 1978, when Earle Bruce was coach and Dexter Green was in the backfield. This game is also the second shutout win in the Paul Rhoads era (2010 UNI).

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Nov 22

Plans for US 30 in eastern Tama County

Posted on Friday, November 22, 2013, at 6:07 PM by Jeff


November 22, 2006: This intersection, where the Lincoln Highway turns southeast, will be removed under the preliminary plan for a US 30 expressway.

I was unable to make Thursday’s meeting — having a quarter-inch of ice covering the car will do that — but things related to it have been published online promptly. Two PDFs and a short presentation are on the PIM site.

The entire existing route of US 30, which runs on a section line, would be obliterated in favor of a new four-lane running a short distance to the north, about the width of a regular interstate median. The road won’t be a pure straight line, but very slightly wavering. As you may imagine, all the houses on the north side of the road will have to be removed. The plan does not include a bridge over the former railroad at the extinct village of Gladstone, instead leveling the land.

Current intersections with gravel roads would be maintained but the E66 intersection would not. Instead, R Avenue, a mile to the east, would be the (paved) connecting road and E66 between current 30 and R Avenue would be a mile-long dead end.

The expressway would come back to the current road west of IA 21, where there is a slight bend in the road for a bridge. That’s where this work area stops.

This is merely the environmental assessment part of the project. There is no funding set aside to do any of this. The Benton County portion is scheduled to be graded in 2016 and paved in 2018.

EDIT: I forgot to publish this post! That’s rectified now.

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Nov 22

Five of six state football champions are private schools

Posted on Friday, November 22, 2013, at 5:38 PM by Jeff

Don Bosco won its first state championship in eight-player football. Iowa City Regina is on a 56-game win streak. Sioux City Heelan had a perfect season and broke or tied 13 state championship records.

Friday afternoon, Carroll Kuemper beat Waukon on a 39-yard field goal that bounced off the crossbar. Dowling and Xavier play at night.

The only public school to win a football title this year was West Lyon. In a postgame interview, West Lyon’s QB thanked God, his coaches, and his offensive line, in that order.

In volleyball, four of the five classes had a private school in the final, but all lost.

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Nov 21

Code talking tribes honored

Posted on Thursday, November 21, 2013, at 5:36 PM by Jeff

The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded yesterday to the Meskwaki (Mesquakie) Indian tribe of Tama County, among others, for their work in World War II.

This sentence about the training, though, makes you go “hmm”:

They received jungle warfare training in Louisiana and code talker training in Scotland and England before being sent to North Africa.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette also has an article.

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Nov 21

I-74 bridge moves fractionally closer

Posted on Thursday, November 21, 2013, at 11:41 AM by Jeff

Speaking of things destined to be built Real Soon Now, WQAD reports that construction of a new I-74 bridge across the Mississippi River is expected to begin in 2017 and won’t be done for another five years. All you will see for the next few years, though, are vacant parcels of land cleared for future construction. So, while it’s programmed, it’s still closer to “believe it when you see it” territory.

The spans will be 85 and 61 years old in 2020.

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Nov 20

Tama County US 30 meeting tomorrow

Posted on Wednesday, November 20, 2013, at 11:35 AM by Jeff

The Iowa DOT is holding a hearing in Toledo on Thursday to discuss proposals for upgrading US 30 east of Tama.

What makes this hearing different from many of those in the past few years is that there will be a formal presentation along with the display of the environmental assessment. (I don’t know if that’s different from the EIS, perhaps an earlier stage.)

The hearing opens at 5 and the presentation is at 5:30.

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Nov 19

150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

Posted on Tuesday, November 19, 2013, at 12:35 PM by Jeff

gettysburgmarker
July 30, 1999: This marker was seen on our tour of Gettysburg. (video frame)

Related articles:

A reading of the Gettysburg Address (NPR)

Thousands gather to commemorate 150th anniversary of Gettysburg Address (Fox News)

Ken Burns working on Gettysburg Address project (USA Today)

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Nov 19

History? What history?

Posted on Tuesday, November 19, 2013, at 10:45 AM by Jeff

“Des Moines” as slang for “Middle America” strikes again:

Southern women are different. That is a fact. It is not posturing, or hyperbole, or marketing. (See: all those song lyrics about California girls and their undeniable cuteness.) Southern women, unlike women from Boston or Des Moines or Albuquerque, are leashed to history.

I think I’ll just furrow my brow at this and say “Bless your heart.”

(h/t Instapundit)

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on History? What history?
Nov 18

IA 175 bridge transfer, end to tolls scheduled

Posted on Monday, November 18, 2013, at 1:06 PM by Jeff


September 17, 2007

The second-to-last privately owned toll bridge on the Iowa part of the Missouri River is about to be free.

A story earlier this month from the Sioux City Journal (reprinted in the Lincoln Journal Star) said the Burt County Bridge Commission was preparing to turn the IA 175/NE 51 bridge over to their respective states, and a press release Friday from the Iowa DOT confirms the approval of the transfer. Nebraska will be in charge of most of the bridge maintenance.

Both items say Nov. 30 will be the last day tolls will be collected.

Six years ago, the US 34 bridge across the Missouri River was transferred from private ownership to Iowa and Nebraska but  remains tolled. The IA 370 bridge is still privately owned.

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Nov 16

7 of 12 state football finalists are private schools

Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013, at 7:15 PM by Jeff

For the second year in a row, the 1A final will be all-private (Fort Dodge St. Edmond vs. Iowa City Regina), and the 4A final will follow suit (Dowling vs. Xavier). The other private-school finalists are Don Bosco in 8-player, Carroll Kuemper in 2A, and Sioux City Heelan in 3A. Only Class A has four public schools in the semis.

This post has been edited.

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