Category Archives: Highway Miscellaneous

Nov 05

IA 999: The untold story (4)

Southern Page County did its damnedest to put itself on a paved path to prosperity. The Highway 333 Association formed in the summer of 1959 with the goal of getting the road from US 275 near Hamburg to US 71 … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous, Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on IA 999: The untold story (4)
Nov 04

IA 999: The untold story (3)

On the official state transportation map, the highway on the corner of Iowa’s floor was stable for 20 years. There was only one change to IA 333 marked between 1943 and 1964: It was straightened to miss College Springs and … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous, Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on IA 999: The untold story (3)
Nov 01

IA 999: The untold story (2)

This excerpt of Missouri football’s 1897 schedule from the 2017 football records book shows one of two games played at Amity College. The meeting appears to be part of a barnstorming tour; the Tigers’ game in College Springs comes three days … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous, Maps | Comments Off on IA 999: The untold story (2)
Oct 31

IA 999: The untold story (1)

For decades, the Iowa Highway Commission wanted to get rid of it. For decades, residents of southern Page County begged the state to pave it. Iowa Highway 999 was both an offshoot of and substitute for Iowa Highway 333, and … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous, Maps | Comments Off on IA 999: The untold story (1)
Oct 15

Interstate 880 coming to Iowa!?!

July 24, 2019: For a limited time only The fall meeting of the AASHTO Special Committee on Route Numbering, which took place Oct. 5, has a doozy of a bombshell. Immediate reaction: W.T.F. Item No. 5 – State: Iowa Route: I-880 Action: … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous, Iowa Miscellaneous, Maps | Comments Off on Interstate 880 coming to Iowa!?!
Oct 03

Iowa’s interstate ‘works of art’

(Related to yesterday, kind of!) October 7, 2013: The I-80 Tiffin westbound rest area’s theme is “Education”. Notice the ISU logo a matter of miles from the U of I campus. (There’s one for UNI too.) The website Roadtrippers has … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Iowa’s interstate ‘works of art’
Oct 02

New Ames flyover ramp has secret message

You know how ancient peoples like the Vikings left communication methods that we’re still trying to figure out today? This is kind of like that, from the Cretaceous Period of computing otherwise known as the 1970s. In fact, the ramp’s … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on New Ames flyover ramp has secret message
Sep 23

With flyover open, where are the other not-quite-cloverleafs?

This is a little late, but hey, so was the completion date of the project! The flyover ramp from northbound I-35 to westbound US 30 in Ames opened two days before the Iowa State-Iowa game, alleviating one long-standing traffic headache … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on With flyover open, where are the other not-quite-cloverleafs?
Sep 05

A Lincoln Highway marker caretaker passes on

August 24, 2013: A Lincoln Highway marker on Johnson Avenue NW in Cedar Rapids. US 30 used Johnson on its first alignment. In an ode to a 102-year-old “Queen of Johnson Avenue” in Sunday’s Gazette, the writer mentioned this nugget: Dorothy … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on A Lincoln Highway marker caretaker passes on
Aug 29

New Mississippi River bridge in Louisiana (no not that Louisiana)

July 12, 2016: The now-former US 54 bridge across the Mississippi River, whose replacement was built right beside it. My string of unbroken Mississippi River crossings was clipped on Aug. 3 when a replacement for the US 54 Champ Clark Bridge … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on New Mississippi River bridge in Louisiana (no not that Louisiana)