Oct 19

Another decade for US 20?

Posted on Friday, October 19, 2012, at 3:09 PM by Jeff

KTIV interviews a highway commissioner who says finishing upgrading US 20 to four lanes in western Iowa could take until 2025. Yikes.

(Also of note: KTIV is using the same graphic style as KWWL, including the moving background of the chyrons.)

KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Another decade for US 20?
Oct 19

Spanning the state

Posted on Friday, October 19, 2012, at 1:02 PM by Jeff

Numbers to know (Cedar Rapids Gazette):

The Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory counts 24,799 Iowa spans. Of the total, 5,358 are considered structurally deficient, and another 1,320 functionally obsolete.

Iowa has more bridges than California.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Spanning the state
Oct 18

Mt. Vernon-Lisbon bypass back on the list

Posted on Thursday, October 18, 2012, at 3:00 PM by Jeff

A decade after thinking about and shelving the plan, a US 30 bypass of Mount Vernon and Lisbon has again advanced to the public-hearing stage. This year’s meeting will be Oct. 30 (PDF). The map is here (PDF).

With the opening of the Tama-Toledo bypass, the four-way stop at IA 1 is the first stop sign on US 30 east of Boone. It’s also near the end of the four-lane across the central third of the state.

Posted in Construction, Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Mt. Vernon-Lisbon bypass back on the list
Oct 16

License Plate Countdown — ERROR STACK OVERFLOW

Posted on Tuesday, October 16, 2012, at 12:23 PM by Jeff


Pac-Man Level 256; the arcade game runs out of memory

Chris Dobel reports seeing a license plate from Linn County beginning with AFR. Just like that, the rollover is here.

Some counties may not have exhausted their Z stacks yet, but given an AF out there, many have them. No telling which has ZZZ or AAA.

In the future, saying the rollover occurred in October 2012 will be good enough and likely the best we’ll get. That means it took about 12 years and nine months, from 1/2/1997 to 9/30/2012, for Iowa to go completely through the alphabet, minus large blocks of letters and certain combinations that were intentionally or accidentally excluded.

Posted in License Plates | Comments Off on License Plate Countdown — ERROR STACK OVERFLOW
Oct 15

Political pronunciation of Missouri

Posted on Monday, October 15, 2012, at 10:31 AM by Jeff

How do you pronounce the name of Iowa’s southern neighbor when you’re in that state? The New York Times is looking at the political implications of pronouncing Missour-ee like a Northerner/urban/younger person or Missou-rah like a Southerner/rural/older person.

Another dimension to the question: Now that Missouri is in the SEC, how do you pronounce the name of the team that lost at home to Vanderbilt and got dumptrucked by Alabama?* Is that going to have a wider impact on state linguistics as a whole?

*Am I enjoying that? Immensely.

Posted in Geography | Comments Off on Political pronunciation of Missouri
Oct 13

A plea for sanity on HD news graphics

Posted on Saturday, October 13, 2012, at 10:23 PM by Jeff

The background behind the anchors or the text does NOT have to move. The images do NOT have to rotate. Chyrons/text elements do NOT need a lens flare around the borders, much less a moving one.

KWWL, you did it first, and KCRG copied. WHO, I see you’re following, and one-upping both of them with occasional video in the background.

Please, enough with the shiny distractions.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on A plea for sanity on HD news graphics
Oct 12

Wait, what? (Sport crossover edition)

Posted on Friday, October 12, 2012, at 8:44 PM by Jeff

On the football schedule for Saturday:

NAIA: Lindsey Wilson at Campbellsville

I knew the former ISU women’s basketball player was tough, but taking on an entire football team singlehandedly?

In other news, Lindsey Wilson College is a thing.
Posted in Sports | Comments Off on Wait, what? (Sport crossover edition)
Oct 12

Progress in Bremer County

Posted on Friday, October 12, 2012, at 3:05 PM by Jeff

Assorted construction news around the state:

  • Count this as another “de-clinching” of US 218 for me: New 218 around Janesville opened today, with an interchange at C50 and a closed intersection a mile south at the county line. The entire roadway has been shifted eastward to accommodate the interchange and has something new for Iowa: Roundabouts at the ramp intersections. (Boooo!)
  • The last remaining gap in US 63 between IA 3 and IA 93 will open to four lanes Monday. This will be good enough for the “official” opening date while there is some construction cleanup afterward.
  • The soon-to-be-former north end of IA 196 at soon-to-be-former US 20 is being converted to a four-way stop Oct. 22.
  • The first part of I-29’s reconstruction in Sioux City fully opened earlier this week. Hamilton Boulevard to IA 12 is the oldest stretch of the interstate in the state and might have been signed only as US 77 at first. (This requires more research.)
Posted in Construction, Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Progress in Bremer County
Oct 11

Happy 10/11/12!

Posted on Thursday, October 11, 2012, at 1:06 AM by Jeff

That is all.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Happy 10/11/12!
Oct 10

License Plate Countdown — ZZL

Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2012, at 12:15 PM by Jeff

The odds are pretty small that I’m going to be the first person to spot the rollover. The AAA assignment is likely completely random and I bet has already rolled off the prison manufacturing line.

Keep an eye out and let me know when you see the change.

UPDATE: ZZN

Posted in License Plates | Comments Off on License Plate Countdown — ZZL