September 28, 2014: A painting of Youngville Station in Benton County, inside Youngville Station, at the now-interchange of US 30 and US 218.
The Historic 20 Route Association is Bryan Farr’s brainchild, and his decade of work has paid off: The Iowa DOT has approved the original route of US 20 as an auto trail. “Original route” makes some concessions to today’s roads, but by and large it’s pretty close to what one would have driven across Iowa in the late 1920s. Stories: Manchester Press, KCIM-AM, press release from the association (if that doesn’t work, here’s the Facebook page). Also, a KTIV story and video from last summer.
The Lincoln Highway in Iowa is part of the Lincoln Highway National Heritage Byway approved in January. Although the Lincoln ran coast to coast, the byway designation for now is only in Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. Nebraska does not sign the 1913 Lincoln, but rather the paved version that hugs the Union Pacific Railroad and goes through Blair. Stories: Clinton Herald, WHBF, Raccoon Valley Radio. That application is through the hard work of Prairie Rivers of Iowa.
Nebraska’s Lincoln Highway Historic Byway Guide is available as a PDF.
In the past decade there has been wider recognition of historic highways in Iowa. Congratulations to those working to make that happen.