Jan 27

Centennial Bridge meeting Wednesday

Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

September 27, 2015: The top plaque on a pillar at the Illinois approach to the Centennial Bridge notes that the bridge, initially planned to be named in honor of Rock Island Mayor Robert Galbraith, was renamed for the centennial of the founding of the city of Rock Island. The bottom plaque is for rehabilitation of the bridge in 1995-96. More pictures on the US 67 page.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is the lead agency in replacing the Centennial Bridge (US 67) across the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities. The second meeting in selecting a path forward will be 3-6 PM Jan. 28 at “The Current Iowa, 2nd Floor, 215 N Main St, Davenport, IA” (as formatted on the dedicated website for the bride project).

According to the current timeline, there will be three more meetings before a preferred alternative is selected in spring 2027. Then it will be a race against time to get a replacement bridge completed before the centennial of the Centennial Bridge in 2040 — and I’m not sure I’m joking.

The bridge was tolled until 2003 and subsequently transferred to state ownership.

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Jan 22

Crawford County uses AI logo for 175th

Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Like half of Iowa’s counties this year (this month, specifically), Crawford County turns 175 years old. KTIV did a story about the celebration and an abbreviated version aired on KCCI and KCRG. It mentions Abraham Lincoln’s Black Hawk War grant of land there; he also received land in Tama County.

I want to call attention to the logo behind the anchors right at the start. It was very clearly made with artificial intelligence. The number of stars white spots and stripes on the U.S. flag is correct, but the Iowa flag and its intricate centerpiece is abstracted. Most notably, though, “1851-2026” has a dash AND a star AND a bullet indicating the span between years.

There is a lot of stuff that is going to go into time capsules this year. If things are going to be made with artificial intelligence, I hope that’s noted for the historical record.

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Jan 20

Original Orient school will be demolished

Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The main building of Orient-Macksburg Community School will be demolished in the upcoming months, according to the Adair County Free Press.

The school board and Orient City Council met in November to discuss the future of the school complex. For about $400,000, the 1921 building will be demolished and the engraved “Orient Consolidated School” lintel over the main entrance will be saved. You can see it below and at the top of my Substack story from the summer of 2024, when things didn’t quite go as planned for O-M.

Should the building be demolished in February as the ACFP article says, it will actually be gone before the district itself technically ceases to exist July 1.

During this school year, Green Hills AEA is using a different part of the campus for Rising Hope Academy, an elementary-level alternative schooling program, according to the Creston News-Advertiser.

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Jan 15

A tribute to the women of country music

Posted on Thursday, January 15, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I sang at the Grand Ole Opry. When I took my place, tourist version or not, I thought about the women of country music, often overlooked, who helped make me the person I am today.

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Jan 13

Roundabouts proposed for major Denison intersections

Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


June 25, 2006: This picture looking north on US 59, which includes a wrong-way triplex with US 30 and IA 141, approaches the north intersection with US 30. More pictures can be seen on the IA 39 page.

The Iowa Department of Transportation has put two intersections in Denison on its bucket list.

A public meeting tonight in Denison will put on display the plans for turning both of US 59’s intersections with US 30 into roundabouts. These three-way intersections, which haven’t changed since they were built in the early 1960s, have complicated geometries. Admittedly, that makes them ideal candidates for roundabouts.

According to plans on the page, the core of the “South Bucket” will be just a hair north of the present intersection, and the core of the “Middle Bucket” will be just a hair south of the present intersection. This terminology implies the “North Bucket” is the US 59/IA 39 intersection, which is untouched in this project.

Overall construction also includes replacing the bridges across the Union Pacific Railroad. It will be a three-year project, starting in late 2028 and ending in late 2031.

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Jan 08

A penny* for my thoughts

Posted on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

*at least until they completely run out

This column also includes a year roundup of my best work.

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Jan 06

Toledo getting a McDonald’s

Posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Tama-Toledo News-Chronicle says the Toledo City Council approved a plat of land “contingent on Fareway’s signature” that “is planned to be used for a new McDonald’s.”

That’s big news!

The Toledo city website has a bad link to the P&Z Board minutes for Dec. 22, so I can’t find any more details. Looking at Tama County Assessor’s records, the most likely location is the open space behind the Fareway. This is away from facing US 63, but still easily accessible. Given recent trends, it is likely to have two drive-thru lanes.

This will be only the second McDonald’s directly off US 30 between Carroll and Clinton, the other being in Marshalltown.

A more attractive location, if they could have gotten it, would have been the site of the former Big T Maid-Rite, at the intersection of US 63 and Business (old) US 30 just to the north. That would also be across the street from Hardee’s, which has been Tama County’s only fast-food restaurant for decades.

That Hardee’s could be in trouble, too. Vinton’s only fast-food restaurant for decades was also a Hardee’s, but when a mini-McDonald’s opened up as part of a new gas station, it was only a matter of months before the Hardee’s closed.

Hardee’s hasn’t been on the same price scale as the other fast-food restaurants since 2003 and the “Thickburger” brand/design revision. Since then, though, many Hardee’s locations in Iowa have closed, including one on 1st Avenue in Cedar Rapids that just got replaced with a Starbucks. At least one has opened — in Holstein, at the TA Travel Center, which is the last fast food on eastbound US 20 until Webster City.

On the other hand, no fast-food place has been able to hold prices down in the last three years. Maybe there will be a space for Hardee’s to stay around.

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Dec 31

Fort Madison Toll Bridge cashless

Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

October 4, 2015: The Fort Madison Toll Bridge is seen in the background of this image. Until the Fort Madison bypass opened, the bridge was the east end of IA 2.

As of Dec. 1, you can’t pay cash to cross the Fort Madison Toll Bridge.

The Hawk Eye (or Daily Democrat) says “drivers will have to use a credit or debit card with a swipe or tap function. Also, instead of collecting the full toll in one direction only, drivers will have to pay a $2.50 toll in each direction for all types of vehicles.”

The toll had been $2 for cars one way, and $1 before that.

Illinois has E-ZPass through its I-Pass, but the bridge is privately owned by the railroad, and so not part of any highway or tollway authority. Credit/debit swipes will be the only way to cross.

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Dec 29

The Cereal Bowl

Posted on Monday, December 29, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

If you buy three boxes of Chex (at once) by New Year’s Eve, you can get a Peanuts Holiday Tin! What can you do with all that Chex? Make Chex Mix for New Year’s Day! Or have many days’ worth of breakfasts with a sugar dispenser handy!

And it will be more filling and bowl-qualifying than Iowa State in this space between Christmas and New Year’s! No, I have no feelings on the circumstances that led to this, why do you ask?

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Dec 26

License Plate Letters — QLY

Posted on Friday, December 26, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Quickly? Quietly? Margaret Qualley?

I think this will count as the end-of-year status for Iowa’s license plates, unless something pops up while driving this week.

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