Apr 14

RAGBRAI L map notes and analysis

Posted on Friday, April 14, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


July 29, 2021: RAGBRAI riders enter Center Point. RAGBRAI was not held in 2020, so 2023 marks the 50th ride. (The plague ended a lot of continuous/consecutive records.)

My analysis (with passing corrections) of the RAGBRAI L map is based on what I saw on the full route reveal page as of April 5. See also this somewhat analytical post on how RAGBRAI L can still count 50 communities along the ride.

  • Day 1 is identical to Day 1 in 1973. This general, but not exact, route was last followed in 2015.
  • Between Early and Lake View, 255th Street is D36 and Perkins Avenue is M68 – these designations don’t pop up on Google Maps for some reason.
  • The route between D36 (old US 20) and E16 has never been used.
  • Using US 30 (not IA 30) between Carroll and Glidden is a first, and the first time any rural segment of US 30 has been included.
  • The segment east of Jefferson to IA 144 is still E53, and again, unmarked on Google. Ditto for P54/Clover Avenue, which goes through Berkley.
  • E57 between P54 and R26 has never been used. Neither have IA 17 and old IA 415 between Madrid and Polk City. The first route from Ames to Des Moines was completely different south of Slater, including entering on NW 6th Drive (1973) vs. US 69/NE 14th Street (2023).
  • The route heading out of Des Moines to Mitchellville hasn’t been used before, including NE 72nd Street (not Avenue), which technically is 1st Avenue S in Altoona.
  • After Colfax, save for going through Iowa City and Davenport, the 1973 and 2023 routes in the eastern half of Iowa have nearly nothing in common. That’s due to needing another day along the way.
  • US 6 between Newton and Kellogg has never been used. Neither has the Grinnell to Montour segment, V18 from E64 to Chelsea, or IA 212. Another part was only used in 1979: E64 from US 63 south of Tama to V18.
  • Tama-Toledo last hosted in 2008, and RAGBRAI was last in Tama County in 2012.
  • East of Iowa City is half a Google Maps “tell”, half a Johnson County contortion. Old 6 east of Iowa City shows up as F46 on the state map and one sign (but not on US 6 itself at the intersection), despite county maps showing the F46 designation going east on gravel 400th Street (Johnson)/310th Street (Cedar). Google marks part as X16, but the county map doesn’t. The entire segment from Iowa City to US 6 is American Legion Road, and Johnson County needs to figure out what alphanumeric name it really is. (I suggest designating the whole paved road F50.) Then the ride route follows US 6 to West Liberty. None of this segment has been used before.
  • IA 70 is the north-south road heading south of West Liberty, but then it’s IA 22 east to Muscatine.
  • Except for a few miles west of Montpelier in 2018, IA 22 between Muscatine and Davenport has never been used.
  • Better luck next time (again), Bettendorf?
  • First-timers: Berkley (which, although not starred, has the ride inside city limits) and Buffalo
  • Been-a-long-timers: Glidden, 1981; Kellogg, 1991; Breda, 1994; Rippey, 1994; Ankeny, 2000; Madrid, 2001
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Apr 12

What’s next for NT after bond issue failure?

Posted on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

North Tama’s year-plus planning for a decades-plus future of the school complex failed by six votes last month. Now, writes Superintendent David Hill, the board is looking for advice on what to do next.

Tonight, the North Tama school board’s April meeting will involve seeking community input. A meeting in Clutier was held last week. The September school/city election date would be an option if the board moved ahead with a revote, unless the board decides to “pursue another course of action”.

In unrelated North Tama news, the school board decided to eliminate the position of elementary principal and replace it with an “assistant principal”. The new hire graduated from Cedar Rapids Washington in 2011 and UNI in 2015.

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Apr 10

When Hoover visited Le Grand

Posted on Monday, April 10, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Le Grand Reporter, April 4, 1923:

Herbert Hoover calls on relatives
LeGrand included in Iowa itinerary — Uncle Davis and Aunt Amelia warmly greeted.

LeGrand entertained distinguished company Thursday afternoon and evening. Herbert Hoover, member of President Harding’s cabinet and one of the outstanding figures of the World War, dropped quietly into town about 4 p.m., having come direct from Ames where at 11 o’clock he addressed the student body. The evening before he was the principal speaker before the League of Women Voters in convention at Des Moines.

Mr. Hoover came to LeGrand to pay a visit to the homes of his aunt Amelia Hoover and uncle H.D. Hoover, and renew the acquaintance of other kindred in the neighborhood. It will be remembered that as a boy Mr. Hoover made his home for a time with his Uncle Allen and Aunt Amelia at West Branch and he has always shown the most tender regard for them. His Uncle Allen passed away a year ago. He has a son whom he named Allen.

Mr. Hoover was accompanied by his private secretary. They left for West Branch Friday morning.

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Apr 07

Crescent school will close

Posted on Friday, April 7, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Six years ago, when the Council Bluffs school district proposed closing Crescent Elementary, a tremendous outcry from area parents resulted in the school being kept open.

It didn’t escape the ax this time.

The Council Bluffs school board approved new school boundaries at its meeting on March 28. Crescent is not part of them. Stories: KETV, WOWT, Daily Nonpareil.

According to information in the board’s agenda, barely more than 40% of K-5 students in the Crescent attendance area actually go to the school. In addition, “[t]he average regular educational cost per pupil at Crescent is $13,811 versus $9,386 average for district elementary buildings, a difference of 47% more per pupil at Crescent.” As I noted in 2017, much of the facility was built this century, and the resolution says the board will seek a solution for community use.

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Apr 05

Tama County V18 at US 30 closing for paving work

Posted on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, at 10:05 AM by Jeff

Here’s a small but interesting construction notice from the DOT: V18 at US 30 is closing today “to do concrete paving in the area.” My theory is that it’s related to the old roadbed for 30 that was bypassed with the four-lane construction (as seen here), which was mostly removed in 2022.

The area around the V18 intersection is all-four-lane now, and is so for three miles to the east where the IA 21 interchange work begins. If you look at the color county map, you can see that V18 right at 30 is colored in purple to indicate concrete while the rest of the road is asphalt. The redone E66 intersection to the west is the same way — the concrete part is what was redone for the four-lane project. The map still seems to show a bit of dead-end Q Avenue connecting the very tip of the old E66 with 30. That is not the case. (To the west of that, old 30 between the new curve of the road to the Tama exit and M Avenue is not colored in at all.)

The V18 project is expected to last two months. The biggest inconvenience is to drivers headed between Chelsea and Vining, exploring Tama County’s Bohemian Alps.

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Apr 03

IA 3 construction in Dubuque County restarting

Posted on Monday, April 3, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

An eight-month-long closure of IA 3 in Dubuque County starting today will continue the $15 million rebuild of the highway, an Iowa DOT press release says.

This segment, originally scheduled for 2021, is specific to the segment between Boy Scout Road and the west city limits of Rickardsville. The project will include reconfiguring both ends of the road through Rickardsville that was bypassed nearly a century ago as part of the original paving of the highway.

A little while ago, I went through the history of the highway between Luxemburg and Sageville (Part 1, Part 2), which now only carries the IA 3 designation.

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Mar 31

When pants are outlawed, only outlaws will wear pants

Posted on Friday, March 31, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Outlying areas of Appanoose County, including the towns of Cincinnati, Exline, Mystic, Numa, and Rathbun, were involuntarily attached to the Centerville school district in the summer of 1966 as the modern district era in Iowa began. Not only did the little “Independent” schools lose their autonomy, some of the students — specifically, female students — lost a little more.

No shorts or slacks for girls at school
(Centerville Iowegian and Citizen, August 10, 1966)

At its regular August meeting the Board of Directors of the Centerville Community School District declined to change its ban on slacks or shorts for girls in school. The question arose due to the fact that such wearing apparel had been allowed in Mystic and Cincinnati schools which are now part of the Centerville system. This means the ban will apply to all schools in the new district.

There has been discussion of the issue in Centerville. However, the board feels that it is obviously wise to continue the ban.

There was one woman on the Centerville board at the time.

Buildings in Exline and Rathbun immediately closed upon the forced reorganization. Numa and “Thirty” followed the year after. Numa had 66 K-8 students in 1966-67. Thirty, with 23 K-6 students, was the last one-room school in Appanoose County. It was on what’s now IA 5 in the vicinity of the Orscheln Farm & Home store on the far south side of Centerville. I don’t know the origin of the name, which dates back at least as far as the 1915 county atlas.

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Mar 29

But what does Metropolis-style pizza look like?

Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

My previous complaint about “Superman & Lois” had to do with my inability to suspend disbelief when Smallville’s football team played Metropolis in a day game that required an overnight hotel stay.

Now, the show has established Smallville is within reasonable driving distance of Metropolis, but last week’s episode…

 

… isn’t even trying?

What lake is Metropolis, Kansas, bordering, that it could have such a notable shipping industry? (The jig was kind of up in the previous episode, where Superman was hovering above downtown and I thought, that really looks like the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier over there.)

For goodness sake, at least use Kansas City without state lines or something.

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Mar 27

Marion Crandell, 1872-1918

Posted on Monday, March 27, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


June 19, 2021: This marker for Marion Crandell is near the Government Bridge at Davenport. According to a 2001 Cedar Rapids Gazette article, this marker, restored that year, was “the first in a series of markers identifying a coast-to-coast Gold Star Highway through Scott County.”

Marion Crandell, a Cedar Rapids native, was the first American woman killed in active service in World War I. Rather than repeat her biography from a historical marker, I’ll link to it and the Gazette’s story about her on the 100th anniversary of her death: March 27, 1918.

Crandell graduated from Omaha High School in 1889; here’s a Nebraska Public Media story about her. The WWI memorial plaque at Omaha Central High School lists her name on the same line as Jarvis J. Offutt, the first Omaha native killed in the war and the namesake of Offutt Air Force Base. That plaque spells her last name as Crandall, as does the Cedar Rapids Republican on March 30, 1918.

According to a blog post from the Davenport Public Library, she lived with her brother in Alameda for a time, which could explain why her gravestone in France (seen in the NPM video) says California.

Aside from a few markers including the one pictured above, Crandell has been an overlooked figure in Iowa history. I have a suggestion: Name the VA Medical Center in either Iowa City or Des Moines after her.

According to San Diego’s CBS station, reporting on the renaming of a VA Medical Center there last year, only three VA hospitals have been named for female veterans. Crandell was not technically a veteran — she was there under the auspices of the YMCA — but she was in the war zone none the less.

Iowa has made sure to pay tribute to Merle Hay, the first Iowa man and one of the first three American soldiers killed in the Great War. Let’s do something equally fitting for Crandell.

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Mar 24

Mount Vernon Road cemetery wall taken down

Posted on Friday, March 24, 2023, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

A historic rock wall with Oak Park Cemetery at the corner of Mount Vernon Road SE and 15th Street SE in eastern Cedar Rapids has been removed. KCRG has a story and video.

The “Mount Vernon cutoff” east of Memorial Drive SE was paved as part of IA 6 in 1921. Its completion resulted in Marion being removed from the Lincoln Highway. The road stopped being part of US 30 in 1953. The road has various configurations between downtown and US 151. Closer to downtown, part of it has a tiny, really weird raised median that seems mostly designed to prevent oncoming-traffic crashes and left turns.

Six years ago, the city of Cedar Rapids approved a “Corridor Action Plan” that is 149 pages with 119-page appendix and 30-page summary. In the area of Oak Hill Cemetery, the plan is to create an arterial street to modern standards with a 4-foot raised median and sidewalks on both sides. That requires widening the right-of-way. I am typically pro-sidewalk, but this is a case where it’s too bad an exception could not be made.

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