The Iowa DOT’s migration of old construction plans to its online portal has revealed how fastidious its record-keeping is. The weak spot is that the plans don’t always indicate exactly what year the project was completed. Having the letting date on the cover sheet helps immensely, but there are times and eras when that is not available, or the date is not legible.
Those plans can get reused for assorted projects on those roads, even decades later. A few years ago, IA 402, the freeway that never was, reappeared in a project for IA 21, though not by number.
This summer, the east-west part of US 63 between IA 96 and Traer will be closed for hot-mix asphalt resurfacing and milling, and the recycled plans are probably from near the very end of hand-drawn construction blueprints. A note of “Revised Nov. 18, 1968” provided the clue I needed.
Work Starts On Highway At Traer (Waterloo Courier, 12/5/68)
A new culvert is being constructed at the curve just south of Traer on Hwy. 63 on the north side of the road, with extensions being added to present culverts along the highway. This is the first stage of modernizing Hwy. 63 from Traer to south of the Hwy. 96-63 junction. Relocation of the curve and grading and surfacing after the culverts are completed is expected to start in April.
Amazingly, this section of US 63 rebuilt in 1969 still had the concrete from 1930! The project increased the radius of the curve on the south side of Traer and also eliminated a curve from northbound 63 to “eastbound” 63 at the 96 junction. The Courier had a notice December 17, 1969, that 63 was open, and all traffic from the south at the 96 junction now had to stop.
The north end of the Traer curve, both old and new, appears on the sheet containing a long-gone structure, the Traer Sale Barn. The sale barn was torn down nearly 30 years ago and Traer Manufacturing was built right next to its spot. Traer Manufacturing closed in 2009, two years before a derecho tore apart the southern end of the building. The property currently belongs to Heartland Coop, but the city is looking into repurposing the building for public services.
Pens at the Traer Sale Barn (family photo). Demolition of the sale barn began Nov. 9, 1983, for construction of Traer Manufacturing.
The only other construction project on the east-west part of 63 in the past 50 years I’m aware of is a resurfacing project in 1999. Unless there was another, that 1999 project was on top of 30-year-old pavement … and the 2022 project is to replace that 23-year-old surface.