Apr 23

Latest cancellations ever?

Posted on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at 10:35 AM by Jeff

Rock Valley and Boyden-Hull, presumably among others in northwest Iowa, cancelled school last Friday because of snow (and then had prom anyway).

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on Latest cancellations ever?
Apr 23

Part of San Marnan Drive to be relocated, rebuilt

Posted on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at 3:00 AM by Jeff

A housing development next to a golf course will cause San Marnan Drive in Waterloo (formerly IA 412) west of Ansborough Avenue to be closed and then rebuilt 80 feet south of the present location. Current San Marnan follows the section line in that area. It seems kind of silly to me, but that puts the homes right by the golf course instead of across the street.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Part of San Marnan Drive to be relocated, rebuilt
Apr 22

Wrong word choice?

Posted on Monday, April 22, 2013, at 11:51 AM by Jeff

Des Moines Register, today:

“We will be entrenched in this community,” the Minnesota Wild owner promised.

ESPN, 2008:

Iowa State coach Gene Chizik’s flirtation with Auburn about the Tigers’ vacant head coaching job has prompted the response back home one might expect.

“As for me, I want to make one thing very, very clear: You guys have been reporting on me for a year and a half, and anybody who knows myself, my wife, my family; they know that we are firmly entrenched here in Ames. We love this university; we love who we work for; we love this football team; we love this community.”

Posted in Sports | Comments Off on Wrong word choice?
Apr 22

Looking at the 2013 state map

Posted on Monday, April 22, 2013, at 11:11 AM by Jeff


The more things change, the more they stay the same. (1983 state map photo)

Before I get to errors, if there are any, here’s what can be picked out as being changed in the newest Iowa state map:

  • US 20 is four lanes from US 71 to Dubuque. There will be no more major shifts in that road. Where it is, is where it will be.
  • US 63 is now red for its entire route, including through Tama County, reflecting the middle portion’s inclusion in the National Highway System.
  • MN 60 is now four lanes from Bigelow to I-90. Minnesota is still doing some work in the US 59/I-90 area (PDF), but that is scheduled to be done this year, and the rural four-lane opened December 6.
  • All exit numbers are vertical.
  • IA 330 has been extended to Altoona.
  • The line for IA 149/Business 63 in Ottumwa is now the smaller urban-route line.
  • The yellow urban area for Cedar Rapids has metastasized grown substantially, including nearly everything south of US 30 and west of Palisades Kepler State Park; the Palo and Toddville areas; and from IA 13 eastward about two miles.
  • Ditto for Des Moines’ area now having Polk City, Cumming, and everything east of R22 and south of US 6 in Dallas County.
  • Iowa Falls and De Witt now have urban areas.
  • I-35 Exit 94 in Ankeny has been added.
  • Items I pointed out last year have been corrected.

Addendum: The Quad-City Times suggests that the paper map be discontinued because of “almost universal web access.” I can’t begin to explain how much of a bad idea this is.

Posted in Maps | Comments Off on Looking at the 2013 state map
Apr 21

License Plate Letters — BAA

Posted on Sunday, April 21, 2013, at 12:27 AM by Jeff

Sadly, these are not reserved for sheep owners.

It took six months to get through the new A’s. Why so long? Two likely explanations:

  • Anyone with an April through September or October registration (along with late March renewers) who still had an original 1997 license plate (000AAA through the early F’s) regardless of vehicle age got a replacement in the late Y’s and Z’s last year before the rollover, which occurred in mid-October.
  • This year the 1998-2003 plates are being replaced, and by this time, there may just be fewer original plates left around than you (I) might think. New vehicle registrations also get the new B’s unless the owner is holding on to a later-alphabet plate.

The letter sequence may be slowed down in the future because the full alphabet is being used in the second and third positions, at least so far. This only happened the first time around in 1997, and still skipped the D’s entirely.

(I have renamed the title of updates starting with this one because I don’t want to give any wrong impressions.)

Posted in License Plates | Comments Off on License Plate Letters — BAA
Apr 19

The League of Legendary Leaders

Posted on Friday, April 19, 2013, at 9:24 PM by Jeff

will split into East and West divisions in 2014, and in a shocking development, the seven westernmost teams will be in the West. (Nice Friday night sports dump, guys.)

This, however, will remain funny:

Posted in Sports | Comments Off on The League of Legendary Leaders
Apr 19

Mmm…pi

Posted on Friday, April 19, 2013, at 10:20 AM by Jeff

Des Moines got a record 3.14 inches of rain for April 17 on Wednesday. To add a little perspective on this, its wettest April day ever was April 28, 1974 with 3.8 inches.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Mmm…pi
Apr 18

Drought buster

Posted on Thursday, April 18, 2013, at 10:43 AM by Jeff

Nearly all of Tama County is now at normal moisture conditions, according to the Drought Monitor – and that doesn’t include any rain since Tuesday morning. Now the eastern third of the state is normal, and only an area around Sioux City is in “extreme drought”.

Posted in Tama County | Comments Off on Drought buster
Apr 17

Manitoba 75 now joins I-29

Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, at 3:39 PM by Jeff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
May 10, 2007: This is the only Manitoba Highway 29 shield ever posted…and now it’s gone.

When the northernmost part of I-29 opened in North Dakota, it took away traffic from one of the busiest port of entry stations in the United States, the one at the northwest corner of Minnesota going to Winnipeg. During the last decade, the US 75 Noyes/Emerson checkpoints were closed and the route has dead-ended at the international border ever since. What most travelers didn’t notice was that right before the port of entry, at the last intersection on the Manitoba side, Manitoba Highway 75 still went east toward Emerson. Its end was signed at Manitoba Highway 200.

Last year that was changed. Now MB 75 goes directly to the checkpoint and I-29. Google Street View went there shortly after the change, and a Canadian roadgeek has take pictures.

Ideally, this will be the change that gets US 75 rerouted from its dead end into Pembina and onto I-29 to meet the same-numbered road going to Winnipeg. It’s the reason the road north of the border is numbered 75, after all. Both Minnesota and North Dakota have to be in on the change, though.

Related: photo gallery from my May 2007 trip through Minnesota to Winnipeg and North Dakota.

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Manitoba 75 now joins I-29
Apr 15

IA 86 closed to rebuild state line curves

Posted on Monday, April 15, 2013, at 9:52 AM by Jeff

The section of IA 86 north of IA 9 wasn’t built as a state highway. It wasn’t taken over until 1981. Since then, the tight curves that mark a shift in section lines at the state line have remained.

The construction planned for this summer will add shoulders and make the curve more gradual. However, it snowed in the area last week, and more snow may be on the way, which would delay the work.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on IA 86 closed to rebuild state line curves