May 10

150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad

Posted on Friday, May 10, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

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August 5, 2016: The restored Union Pacific depot in downtown Cheyenne WY has an inlaid map of the eastern portion of the Transcontinental Railroad. However, it marks Omaha as the terminus.

A century and a half ago today, the United States was connected in a way it had never been before. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads hooked up at Promontory, Utah, to complete the Transcontinental Railroad across the western half of the nation.

Iowa played a role in that, of course. Council Bluffs was chosen by Abraham Lincoln to be the east end of the Union Pacific Railroad. Between 1865 and 1869, the Chicago and North Western Railroad rapidly built track from Boone to Missouri Valley to hook up with north-south trackage that parallels I-29 today. The final, true transcontinental connection wasn’t quite a done deal until a railroad bridge across the Missouri River opened in 1872. (See “How Omaha Railroaded Council Bluffs,” Omaha magazine, March/April 2017.) The C&NW route, the first east-west railroad completed across Iowa, would serve as the basis for the nearly all of the Lincoln Highway and US 30, and itself become part of the Union Pacific in 1995.


August 1, 2000: Golden Spike National Historic Park, Promontory Summit, Utah. (Yup, been there.) A significant segment of the railroad was bypassed in 1904 with a causeway over the Great Salt Lake and the rails were pulled up for scrap in World War II.

More Transcontinental Railroad-related pictures can be seen in my trip reports from 2016 (Day 1, Day 4).

One hundred years and seventy-two days after the United States was united by rail, that nation landed men on the moon. We’ll reach half of that time span this Aug. 25.

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May 09

You don’t need a weatherman…

Posted on Thursday, May 9, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I’m pretty much obligated to repost this, right?

And of course, this.

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May 08

Dubuque Southwest Arterial update

Posted on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

From the city of Dubuque on YouTube.

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May 07

‘Blackout’ Iowa license plate to be offered

Posted on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The first time I saw it, I did a double-take. It was a black muscle car with two white stripes across the center from front to back. On the back, instead of the standard Iowa license plate, was a white-on-black one. It seemed that this driver was a long way from Dordt College, whose specialty plate is white-on-black. Indeed, the driver had covered up the college-specific features with a frame and sticker. Then, last week, I saw a black Jeep that had done the same thing.

Turns out this is so common that the state is going to offer that “look” as a custom plate July 1. The WOI story makes it sound like it’s a fait accompli, though KIWA Radio says it depends on the governor’s signature on the appropriations bill (so, yeah, fait accompli).

It’s like, how much more black could this be, and the answer is none. None more black.

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May 06

Dad’s new toy

Posted on Monday, May 6, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

There’s another dependent in the family, and probably his early birthday present to himself.

In fairness, this is only the second tractor of the gang that’s younger than I am, and the other isn’t by much.

(Consider this, also, our family’s answer to Iowa’s unofficial state question, “Red or green?”)

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May 04

The only opinion column that matters this week

Posted on Saturday, May 4, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Washington Post: James Holzhauer is a menace to ‘Jeopardy!’

(warning: autoplay video)

States move to legalize sports betting and a professional sports gambler breaks Jeopardy. Probably just a coincidence.

But he didn’t know about either Ben Sasse or the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop ($1000 Friday clue).

(Contra the Register’s article, or perhaps happening after it was published, there was also a Madison County question on Wednesday.)

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May 03

End of a TV era

Posted on Friday, May 3, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

My EyeTV programming subscription expired today — but it died the evening of Feb. 5.

I was away, so I didn’t know it happened until I came back and found an empty screen where the TV listings were supposed to be. The thread about its unexpected demise is the longest in the discussions forum for EyeTV.

I suppose I should consider myself lucky to have had it as long as I did (a month short of nine years). The EyeTV hardware was discontinued four years ago and all product stuff and software was sold. Since then it was a case of renewing a subscription through the European subsidiary of a Chinese company for something specific to North America. One thing or another was bound to come along. And everything I said about streaming in 2015 is an issue today, only many times more so.

Users have looked for other ways to populate the TV listings, but all of them involve deep work in Terminal and other fiddling with things. There’s a workaround that requires minimal effort to set recordings, using the TitanTV site, although I have to have the EyeTV application open to realign the channel it’s looking for. The downside of this is that stumbling upon new shows is pretty much non-existent, so I didn’t find out until Wednesday that “The Amazing Race” was back.

The search for answers shows how much this service was still used. But the abruptness of the service termination (it’s looking for a TV Guide server) and the non-communication from the company was disgusting.

There are better ways to save $22 a year.

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May 02

The most conflicting intersections

Posted on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Four intersections between four-lane expressways and county roads have been singled out for extra warning signs this year.

In the April DOT letting there’s a contract for “Intersection Conflict Warning Systems.” A diagram shows inclusion of cameras, turn detectors, and a large “Traffic Approaching When Flashing” sign.

One of the four, County Road X20 at Springville, has had issues for a decade. In mid-March, there was a meeting about making an interchange that wouldn’t be done for years. Residents tried to demand two things the state of Iowa does not do and will not do on expressways outside outskirts of metro areas — drop the speed limit to 45 and/or put up a stoplight. Additional warning indicators will have to do.

The other three intersections to get special attention are US 151 at 130th Street/Old Dubuque Road/pre-1965 US 151 northeast of Anamosa, US 65/69 at Scotch Ridge Road 2.5 miles south of IA 5, and US 34 at the southeast end of the New London bypass.

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May 01

Ladora bank bistro back with caucus theme

Posted on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Earlier this year, the Ladora Bank Bistro closed, and the future of the building was uncertain. But it’s coming back, today, with a twist.

It’s called the “Caucus Bistro” and will have campaign memorabilia. (Stories: KCRG, Iowa Public Radio, Des Moines Register)

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Apr 30

I-80/380 meeting Tuesday night

Posted on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For those who are looking forward to their commutes between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids the next five years or so, tonight is your chance to find out just how bad things are going to START getting.

There’s a meeting at the Coralville Library at 4:30, with the promise of materials online tomorrow.

The traffic shifts and disruptions will happen to some level this year, but completion of the Forevergreen Road interchange won’t happen until fall. That’s supposed to provide some relief on the north, though I wonder if that means traffic will “only” be backed up halfway up the existing North Liberty exit ramp instead of all the way.

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