Apr 14

Pi Day, delayed

Posted on Monday, April 14, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Pie is always in season, not just March 14! Pi Day in Springville is a local holiday.

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Apr 14

Colona-oscopy

Posted on Monday, April 14, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In Sunday’s print Des Moines Register, on the “Around the State” page, there was this curious item:

In a page that is about stories from the state of Iowa, the Register ran a brief from a city in ILLINOIS — a suburb of the Quad Cities. The dateline on WQAD’s original April 2 story specifically says “Colona, Ill.”

Did someone mistake Colona for the identically pronounced eastern Iowa city of Kalona? The item came from a TV station that covers Iowa, after all. But the dateline said Illinois, and it can easily be double-checked on a map.

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Apr 10

Iowa, Louisiana

Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

I’m a bit behind on linking my Substack posts from here — long story. But many of them are not too time-specific. (And those that are, well, they’re still worth reading!)

Here is my travel story from Iowa, Louisiana, which I visited when I was doing training for my new job.

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Apr 08

Boyson Road ramps close

Posted on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Iowa DOT says in a press release that the southbound ramps on I-380 to/from Boyson Road close starting today and lasting until July 4. Center Point Road will be used for the connection.

This KCRG story from Sept. 29, 2022, outlines the proposal to convert the Boyson Road exit to a diverging diamond. There’s also a video that shows the interchange format, where the directions of traffic temporarily switch so drivers are on the opposite side of the road. The now-open Tower Terrace exit and the future Cedar Rapids airport exit also are designed as DDIs.

If you’ve been in the area you have already seen that all the trees are gone and part of the new bridge over I-380 is being built right beside the current one.

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Apr 07

A note on toll roads

Posted on Monday, April 7, 2025, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

The Gazette’s centerpiece last Monday was “Why doesn’t Iowa have toll roads?”. It starts out: “Thirty-six U.S. states have toll roads, including Iowa’s neighbors Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois.”

Nebraska and Missouri do not have toll roads.

Nebraska has two toll BRIDGES: the old US 34 and old IA 370 bridges across the Missouri River from Iowa. The operators still charge tolls although most traffic from both has moved to the new US 34 bridge.

Missouri had one toll bridge, at the Lake of the Ozarks, but it became a free bridge in May 2024.

Minnesota technically doesn’t have toll roads. It has some High Occupancy/Toll (HOT) lanes in the Twin Cities that use E-ZPass. Minnesota is the only state (mostly) west of the Mississippi River that uses E-ZPass and is compatible with the eastern half of the country. Minnesota has one toll bridge, which is at International Falls.

The bulk of the Gazette story focuses on where money for Iowa roads comes from, the Road Use Tax Fund. It touches on a proposal a little while back to toll I-80 to upgrade it across the state but that was shot down immediately. Iowa doesn’t have toll roads because, as stated near the end of the article, creating the system would be expensive and it’s not feasible in a state that has a lot of alternative routes (avoiding toll roads is known as shunpiking).

But once you pass the west end of the toll part of I-88 in Illinois, there are no more true toll roads until either the Kansas Turnpike or the E-470 loop in Colorado.

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Apr 01

Windsor Heights got a Casey’s

Posted on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

You might think that news about a Des Moines suburb getting another gas station isn’t too notable, but in this case, I found something.

Land was cleared last fall for a Casey’s at the northeast corner of University Avenue and 70th Street in Windsor Heights, across from the Hy-Vee. (WHO had a story in April about the previous site owner.)

In related developments for the Ankeny-based chain, based on the chain’s website and Google Street View:

  • Ida Grove got a Casey’s in the 2018-19 time frame.
  • One just opened in Epworth on the south side of the US 20 exit, so recently that a mid-2023 Street View image showed a lot just beginning to be cleared.
  • The Palo Mini Mart at 1st Street and Blairs Ferry Road was rebranded as a Casey’s sometime in the past three years.
  • The Sinclair station in Lansing was rebranded as a Casey’s in the past 15 months.
  • Fruitland, just south of Muscatine, technically doesn’t have one, but there’s one a mile north of town on US 61.

Now that the Casey’s in Windsor Heights has opened, the largest community in Iowa without one is Atkins. Following it, in descending order based on 2020 population, are Parkersburg, Manson, Remsen, Hartley … and Traer. There are now only 20 towns in Iowa with a population above 1,000 without a Casey’s.

But if not having a Casey’s is what keeps Pizza Palace going, I’m happy for Traer to keep the distinction.

As a side note, Bondurant having a giant Kum & Go and giant Kwik Star on US 65 feels a little nuts to me, but I can only imagine how it feels to someone who’s lived in a place that has doubled in population in 2010.

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Mar 28

AWE open house April 4

Posted on Friday, March 28, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

A longtime Traer business is celebrating 20 years at its “new” location on the east edge of town.

AWE moved from the auto shop addition at the north-side gas station to the Vokoun Co. site in 2005. The business is owned by Gretchen Pargeon, whose husband Mike died in 2018. (By happenstance, I happened to see Mike on his last day.)

AWE is hosting an open house on April 4 from 2 to 7. The North Tama Telegraph has an interview with Pargeon and a history of the auto shop.

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Mar 24

Jinx

Posted on Monday, March 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Don’t do this again, ISU Alumni Association. Even if it means you have to wait to send the message until 10 PM Sunday.

(Due to work, I observed the score at halftime and then did not observe again.)

PS: How do you offer a massive air/hotel package like this and not include tickets?!

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Mar 24

Major overnight closures on I-35/80 this week

Posted on Monday, March 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

This week, the western third or so of the I-35/80 multiplex in the Des Moines suburbs will close from 11 PM to 4 AM. The closures are needed for converting the Hickman Road exit into a diverging diamond interchange.

The closures last through Friday morning, according to a press release from the DOT. The detour mostly follows NW 100th Street, which is a surface street.

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Mar 19

Waterloo rebuilding part of San Marnan Drive

Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

One of the biggest construction projects on San Marnan Drive since the route was built as IA 412 is Waterloo’s big project this summer. The road is going to be rebuilt this year, and much of the underlying road likely is original to state construction 65 years ago.

The project is in three stages that go west from IA 21 nearly to Ansborough Avenue. Most of the time the intersection with Kimball Avenue will be open. There is a frontage road between IA 21 and Kimball but it’s hard to get to from 21.

The city’s website outlines the stages of the six-month project.

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