Sep 22

IA 21 to get its fourth stoplight

Posted on Thursday, September 22, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Last Friday, the intersection of IA 21 and Shaulis Road on the south side of Waterloo closed for construction of turning lanes and signals, the Iowa DOT said in a press release.

Until a decade ago, IA 21 went all of its 98 miles without a stoplight. Then signals were added to the ramps at US 20 and to the south at the Hawkeye Community College corner (Orange Road). Shaulis Road is between the two locations. IA 21 will then have four stoplights in its northernmost two miles, at every intersection it has in the Waterloo city limits, but still none on the rest of the route.

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Sep 21

Old IA 394 St. Francisville bridge closes

Posted on Wednesday, September 21, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

IF
July 12, 2016: The St. Francisville bridge over the Des Moines River.

Well, it finally happened: A dozen years after it was bypassed, the old bridge over the Des Moines River in Lee County has been closed permanently. It was only a matter of time; I was kind of surprised when it didn’t close shortly after the opening of the new Avenue of the Saints bridge just to its west or upon completion of the four-lane road. The website nemonews.net has the story (h/t Austin Draude) and reports that the Wayland Special Road District has no plans to repair the bridge — but there are no immediate plans to tear it down, either.

The bridge was built in 1937 and wasn’t on the state highway system until 1980, when the Iowa DOT took over the road running straight south of Donnellson and designated it IA 394. The bridge’s strategic location became more obvious as a four-lane Avenue of the Saints gradually became reality. The old bridge brought traffic to a halt for collecting tolls on the Missouri side while four-lane segments crept closer and closer from both Iowa and Missouri. After the new bridge opened, this one became a free bridge and the toll booth was removed. Pictures of the brief time it was signed as the official Avenue of the Saints, and the co-signing of IA 394 and IA 27, can be found on the IA 394 South page.

Now I’m very glad I took the time to drive the bridge and even record a video crossing it in July.

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Sep 20

North Tama graduate a starter for ISU

Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, at 10:05 AM by Jeff

Brian Seda has achieved a dream he’s had for a long time: He’s been named a drummer for Spinal Tap a starter for Iowa State on the offensive line. He actually got the nod last week, against TCU, but Saturday is the first time he will be playing in front of the home crowd.

Seda is a redshirt senior walk-on who played on North Tama’s 2010 championship football team. Here’s a profile from the Times-Republican (actually the Google News link in case of paywall).

Congratulations to Seda for all his hard work paying off. Lord knows the ISU O-line needs all the help it can get.

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Sep 19

Grand Avenue bridge closes today

Posted on Monday, September 19, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Grand Avenue bridge across the Des Moines River closes today for demolition and replacement, the Des Moines Register reports. The bridge, built in 1918, was a key link in Iowa’s early highway system. It wasn’t part of the first version of the River-to-River Road (the RRR used Locust Street between 7th and East 9th streets in a 1910 guide), but by the mid-1920s, after the bridge was built, it was on the route that became US 32 and then US 6. The four major street bridges in downtown Des Moines were built in a decade-long span in the early 20th century, the Register article notes.

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Sep 16

Early start to Big 12 schedule

Posted on Friday, September 16, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


September 17, 2016 (projected): An angry TCU team, coming off a double-overtime loss to Arkansas, took out its frustrations on the hapless Iowa State Cyclones to start Big 12 play…

This week’s Iowa State game at TCU means an early start to Big 12 play. ISU has played TCU twice in September before, in 1995 and 1998 as non-conference games (both losses). This year, the early date is for Big 12 TV scheduling purposes.

In the Big Eight era and the 11-game schedule, Iowa State never started conference play before Oct. 1, and didn’t even start the season until the second Saturday in September through the mid-1980s. After that, the number of conference games played before Sept. 23 can be counted on one hand:

  • Aug. 30, 1997 — loss to Oklahoma State
  • Aug. 31, 2002* — win over Kansas
  • Sept. 18, 2010 — loss to Kansas State at Arrowhead Stadium
  • Sept. 6, 2014 — loss to Kansas State. This was originally supposed to be the Toledo game but for TV purposes, the K-State and Toledo dates were swapped and ISU hosted Toledo for Homecoming.

*The 2002 schedule is especially weird. ISU played 14 games that season, with the Eddie Robinson Classic, a special allowance game against UConn (which was transitioning to D-IA and beat ISU), and the Humanitarian Bowl. The fifth game of the 2002 season was Sept. 21.

Personally, I’m not opposed to starting the season with a conference game as some SEC teams do — say what you will about Cupcake Saturday in November, but it serves its purpose. Then again, ISU’s alleged cupcakes give us indigestion anyway.

Photo via thatcutesite.com
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Sep 15

OABCIG consolidation vote fails

Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2016, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

A majority of voters in the Odebolt-Arthur school district rejected a merger with the Battle Creek-Ida Grove school district Tuesday, the Sioux City Journal reports. More than half of OA’s registered voters turned out to oppose a plan that would have given the BCIG area twice as much representation on the school board because BCIG has nearly twice the population.

OABCIG is the state’s third-longest active two-way whole-grade sharing agreement, dating back to 2009, but right now it’s back to the drawing board for future plans.

Elsewhere in northwest Iowa, the 1930s school in Hartley will remain in use after a bond issue didn’t get a supermajority (KIWA).

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Sep 14

C57 interchange ribbon cutting Thursday

Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

There will be a ribbon cutting for the US 218/County Road C57 interchange Thursday at 2:30, the Iowa DOT says in a press release. The exit itself will not open until October. After it is opened, the surface-road intersections will be closed and US 218 will be a full freeway from the north side of Cedar Falls to the east side of Janesville.

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Sep 13

Old Algona school saved, remodeled

Posted on Tuesday, September 13, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Algona’s 1930 school building will open later this year as an apartment complex, and Iowa Public Radio has a story and photo gallery about it. The gym and auditorium will be preserved and open to the public. This is pretty cool; I’m thrilled to see a building of this era preserved.

The building, which was used as a middle school at the end of its life, was cleared of students and school property in January 2011. It was sold to the developer for $1 in summer 2012, so this has been in the works for four years.

The same success, however, is not in the cards for Burlington’s 1910 high school building.

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Sep 12

KWKB loses CW affiliation

Posted on Monday, September 12, 2016, at 10:20 AM by Jeff

Today, programming for the CW network in eastern Iowa moves from KWKB Channel 20.1 to KWWL Channel 7.2. KWKB will still be on the air, but taking over the “This TV” affiliation instead (or so Wikipedia says). At the same time, KWWL is nearing the end of a complete building renovation project.

It’s probably the biggest change in Iowa TV stations since the CW stations (KWKB and KCWI*) came on the air as WB stations. This is the first time in Iowa that a previously existing network has moved from a channel to a subchannel — KHQA and KTVO in far southeast Iowa picked up ABC/CBS secondary affiliations in 2007 and 2010 respectively, but those were additions to “in-between” coverage areas.

The TV landscape in Iowa has remained remarkably stable in the last 30 years, at least on the viewer’s end — stations have changed owners, and subchannels have been added in the digital era, but affiliations and call letters haven’t changed. The NFL-induced 1994 TV station realignment didn’t touch the state. The CW move here isn’t nearly the shakeup going on in Peoria right now.

Now I just have to remember which station I need to record “Supergirl” on. (Give us more female-driven shows! they said. Then “Agent Carter” was cancelled and “Supergirl” was pushed off CBS.)

*KCWI is still on Channel 23 despite now being partnered with WOI and not having its own local programming anymore.

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Sep 09

Jantz Jantz Revolution, five years later

Posted on Friday, September 9, 2016, at 10:03 AM by Jeff

Remember this?

This week the Iowa Hawkeyes gave a 10-year extension and $4.5 million a year to a coach who, at the time of this writing, has a losing record against Iowa State.

Also five years ago, North Tama had never lost to Gladbrook-Reinbeck, and now the Redhawks are on a three-year slide against the top-ranked (at least in one poll) Class A Rebels.

…yeah, I have nothing.

UPDATE: Two plays, two TDs for GR and the pain kept coming.

UPDATE 2: Red teams 3, non-red teams 84

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