Rand McNally has been suffering from a form of “Christmas creep” over the past decade. Before a trip to Washington DC in August 2009, I already had the 2010 atlas. Now, before the summer of 2012 has officially started, the 2013 atlas is already over a month old. As such, it won’t even show projects completed in 2012!
One thing added to recent atlases was signage of the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Lincoln Highway, and US 66. However, in this case, something might be worse than nothing. Two US 66 markers in Illinois, for example, are placed directly on I-55 when the old road is clearly marked beside the interstate as a gray line.
In some cases, the roads that make up the actual route are not included. In other cases, the markers are simply wrong. A US 66 marker erroneously placed in northeastern Oklahoma still appears in early 2013 printings despite attempts to correct it.
Iowa, unfortunately, fares no better. Here are the markers in or near Iowa in the 2012 atlas and their degree of accuracy when compared to the recent signing of the route in the state:
- Just west of Morrison IL on the Iowa map. Accurate.
- On US 30 just west of US 61, on the Illinois map. Accurate.
- On US 30 west of Wheatland. The Lincoln follows an old, paved alignment that the RMcN doesn’t show and a gravel alignment that predates “old 30”.
- On US 30 between V56 (old IA 82) and V44 in central Benton County. Accurate.
- On US 30 west of State Center. This is one of the “blatantly inaccurate” markers, since E41 is shown on the RMcN map.
- On US 30 just east of Scranton. Wrong again. E53 is not drawn in, although it is farther away from current 30 than the road through Marshall County.
- On US 30 between Vail and Westside on the Nebraska map. Accurate.
- On US 30 northeast of Woodbine on both the Iowa and Nebraska maps. Incorrect, but the gravel routing is not shown.
- On NE 64 between I-680 and NE 31, Iowa map only. I believe this is accurate.
- On the US 275 freeway southeast of Fremont NE, where old 275 is clearly visible, Iowa map only. Incorrect.
So, of the ten Lincoln Highway markers visible on at least one state map near or in Iowa, five are on the right road, two are on the wrong road when the correct one is visible on the RMcN map, two should be on paved roads that aren’t drawn in, and one is supposed to be on a gravel routing.
That’s only a 50% total-success rating on only a fraction of the route, and 80% on a “benefit of the doubt” standard (using only roads visible on the map). While any serious traveler of the Lincoln Highway or US 66 can and should find much more detailed guides, the Rand McNally markers have difficulty passing even a cursory survey.
