Sep 28

Tama Lincoln Highway bridge contract to be let

Posted on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


June 17, 2022: The slab edge on the north rail of the Lincoln Highway bridge (under the letters) shows severe wear and is one of the areas slated to get work done.

The Iowa DOT is playing a role in the restoration of Tama’s Lincoln Highway bridge — not in the work itself, but in getting a contractor.

In March, the city of Tama shifted the third round of bidding from the local to state level (as a federal-aid swap application). The first round came in above expectations (and was invalidated), and the second had no bidders, as a Marshalltown Times-Republican article at the time explained. The need to have major work on the bridge was known eight years ago but it took this long to raise the money. Rehabilitation is included in the Oct. 18 collection of Iowa DOT letting plans.

The documentation picks out specific areas of the bridge, including the “AY” on the south side, for repair. The plans are from the city of Tama and engineering firms Shuck-Britson of Des Moines and Snyder & Associates of Cedar Rapids. If you look at the end of the file, there’s something you might not expect: A reproduction of the original construction document shows a concrete bridge without “Lincoln Highway” spelled out in the railings. I have not been able to find any specific mention of the letters being incorporated into the design in newspapers of the time.

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Sep 26

Rockwell lost its newspaper

Posted on Monday, September 26, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The continuing decline of rural newspapers is creating conflicts with state regulations.

The last edition of the Rockwell Pioneer-Enterprise was September 8. The Iowa Newspaper Association website listed its circulation at 174 — and a mailing address in Buffalo Center. The paper’s website is combined with the Sheffield Press, about 6 miles south but just across the Franklin County line.

Information for the Sheffield Press is not available on the INA website. The Press‘ website hasn’t posted anything in the news section since mid-June and in the sports section a full year ago. The most recent obituary as of Sunday is Aug. 31. Its sporadically updated Facebook page is headlining the retirement of Jack Zimmerman, who started at that paper in 1957 at the age of 17.

The closure of the Pioneer-Enterprise leaves only two papers in Cerro Gordo County: the Globe Gazette and the Clear Lake Mirror Reporter. KGLO-AM has a story about the county supervisors officially voting to move forward with publishing notices in two papers. According to Iowa Code Chapter 349, counties with a population above 15,000 should be doing it in three.

Wait a second — this affects Tama County too! Tama County has only had two newspapers since May 2020, and with a population just above 15,000 it’s supposed to have three official newspapers as well. The third option could be the Sun-Courier as it is the merged Gladbrook-Reinbeck paper, and technically its office is in Tama, but it’s not officially a Tama County newspaper. Iowa Code is very detailed about having more papers than needed, and even three-newspaper communities, but doesn’t cover how to handle the opposite situation. The concept of a newspaper nominally being of one community but having no local presence is something that didn’t come up until the 21st century.

In Tama County government, the auditor is required to “[p]ublish all proposed ordinances and all amendments in the manner required by the Code of Iowa, as amended, and by the ordinances of Tama County in at least one newspaper having general circulation within the county.” The board of supervisors approved the North Tama Telegraph and Tama-Toledo News-Chronicle as official county publications on May 26, 2020, after the old nameplates went defunct. (The county only keeps one year of minutes active online, and changed its Web address to tamacounty.iowa.gov earlier this year, but I got it through the Wayback Machine.)

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Sep 23

Wisconsin sets expiration dates on license plates

Posted on Friday, September 23, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In 2017, Wisconsin ran out of license plates. But instead of re-resetting its alphanumeric cycle, it moved to a seven-character AAA0000 style, and let the old plates stick around. (See this Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story.) Although the base design goes back to 1986, some minor tweaks and color scheme changes mean that the plates on the road today are mid-2000 and later. (I was wrong in a statement I made in the 2017 blog post, since the 1986-2000 plates have been replaced at least once.)

The older plates, depending on their exposure to the elements, are peeling apart, and some of them look really bad. (I’ve never seen a 1997-2002 Iowa plate peeled like that.) Something had to be done, and the Wisconsin Legislature reimposed a 10-year rolling deadline. The administrator of the Wisconsin DMV said the state has 3 million active plates more than a decade old, so those will be in line for replacement over the next year or so. By the end of 2027 six-character plates will be history in the Badger State.

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Sep 21

Walcott could lose half its school grades

Posted on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Davenport school district is considering changes to the grade configuration in Walcott.

KWQC and WQAD both reported last week that the K-8 school there could become a middle school for grades 5-8 or 6-8. Younger students would go to Buffalo or Blue Grass. Walcott is Davenport’s only K-8 school this year; others are K-6. A full accounting of options given at a July school board meeting can be found in this long PDF.

Enrollment in the Davenport district, which extends from I-74 to Walcott and Blue Grass, dropped 10% in the 2010s, and a change in state law last year lifted previous restrictions on open enrollment out.

It wouldn’t count as a closure for Walcott, but it would be a loss nonetheless.

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Sep 19

Manitowoc gives US 151 a trim

Posted on Monday, September 19, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


September 14, 2015: The now-former north end of US 151.

There are those who see the above point in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and see the light at the end of the tunnel, or a long-neck at the end of a long ride. No longer. Not the elevator, the sign. US 151 has been truncated to I-43 on the southwest side of Manitowoc.

There is a two-part, or perhaps one-and-a-half-part, explanation. First, the city is turning 8th and 10th streets, which have carried US 10 north of downtown, into two-way streets. A Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter* story from a year ago said the change would be ready this September. The city has a PDF explainer with maps — and a historic highway photo Dale Sanderson would love. Taking US 10 off that segment, however, means creating a convoluted route for US 10 to get past the downtown area across the Manitowoc River to the S.S. Badger, a ferry that crosses Lake Michigan. Without going into more detail, I’ll just say that the line for the ferry will now have a very awkward turn in the middle of it.


September 14, 2015: Note “East”, not “End”, and the badge on the Badger.

That, itself, would not require changing 151, which is where the other part comes in. The city of Manitowoc has been begging the state of Wisconsin to fix the streets (and 100-year-old infrastructure underneath) that carry US 151 from I-43 to downtown. As recently as two years ago, the timetable for that was 2037, but it’s now been “sped up” to … 2029, according to this HTR story. As part of the changes to US 10, US 151 is being truncated and its route through the city is becoming an extension of WI 42. This might, in my speculation, reduce some of the non-local traffic on it. Taking this highway segment completely off the state rolls, however, would put the entire burden of the multimillion-dollar reconstruction on the city — like US 6/Broadway in Council Bluffs — and the city can’t afford that.

Since 151 is merely being truncated, not rerouted, I still have traveled the entire route. But on 10, this change ruins my clinch for both Wisconsin and the route west of Lake Michigan to West Fargo, North Dakota. It looks like I have an excuse to ride the S.S. Badger some time in the future.

*The HTR is one of 11 Wisconsin newspapers under the Gannett-Gatehouse merger that, as of May, is being printed in Peoria, four hours away.

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Sep 16

Iowa stumps the smart set again

Posted on Friday, September 16, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Monday’s “Jeopardy!” started the show’s 39th season. It has a new, extended, and varying opening, with images of prominent champions (starting with Amy Schneider) and the studio audience.

One thing, however, remains the same: Iowa remains largely a mystery to the contestants. This calendar year has not been kind.

On the Road Again, for $1200:

An uphill bike race is held annually in Burlington, Iowa, on this alley seen here, named for a type of critter.

The image was of Burlington’s Snake Alley, and no one buzzed in. The contestants immediately went on to not answer the next clue, about I-10.

At least Tuesday’s group was successful in the football category (NFL opening weekend), unlike some in the past, earning gratitude from host Ken Jennings.

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Sep 14

Another one bites the truss

Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

A century-plus-old pony truss bridge in Carroll County has reached the end of its useful life. Its birth was one of the inspirations for standardization in Iowa construction.

KCIM-AM reports that the Carroll County supervisors plan to replace the Storm Creek bridge on Phoenix Avenue between Carroll and Lidderdale this fiscal year. The supervisors estimate the cost at $465,000, a jump from their last similar project. It cost about $2000 to build in 1913.

This was in the Carroll County supervisors’ minutes of December 27, 1912, printed in the Carroll Times on January 31, 1913: “After examining the bids on file the Board on motion awarded the contract of furnishing all material and construction of both wood and steel bridges for the year 1913 to the Standard Bridge Co., of Omaha, this being the lowest bidder as per plans and specifications on file in the auditor’s office.” One of the other bidders was the Marsh Engineering Co., known for its concrete arch bridges.

This bridge is significant enough that the Iowa DOT has a page about it, which provided a clue to finding the passage above. The page goes into detail about the bridge’s significance, and here’s a key passage: “The plans submitted to Carroll County in the spring of 1913 represented the prototypes for ISHC’s pony trusses: experimental designs that soon became the basis for the ISHC X-Series standards.” Pony truss bridges bloomed all across the state over the next 30 years, and this one helped lead the way.

The bridge contract had one non-highway consequence: a marriage. Miss Florence Marean, “a wide awake and ambitious young lady [who] will make good in any community in which she desires,” married the foreman of the bridge builders. “He is working for the Standard Bridge Company putting in bridges over the big ditch in the Storm Creek drain.” They were expected to settle in Nebraska, the Carroll Times said on October 2, 1913.

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Sep 12

Kolache confusion

Posted on Monday, September 12, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


July 26, 2012: A Czech list of the food offerings in Clutier on RAGBRAI XL.

While checking out various Iowa State-related places before last Saturday’s football game*, I learned something about a former ISU player. Brent “Big Play” Curvey restarted his “Coaches Kolaches” store in Urbandale over the weekend (pushed back from Sept. 1). Grand View University’s student media did a piece on Curvey, a Houston native, last year. His wife, an Iowa native, said, “… once he got to Iowa, he realized that there were no kolaches, so we came up with the idea because he missed kolaches and I love to cook.”

HOLD IT. What’s with that “no kolaches” line? Regional differences.

Curvey’s business is primarily selling Texas kolaches, which are stuffed with meat and other things, with Iowa kolaches, which are open-faced and fruity (or poppy-seedy), on the side. The daughter of the founder of the famous West, Texas, kolache bakery made clear to NPR the difference:

While traditional kolaches are fruit-filled, a Texan twist evolved when they were made with sausage, cheese and jalapeños. Irwin, a self-proclaimed kolache purist, maintains that these are not true kolaches, but rather what her father called a “klobasniki.” …

For Czech communities outside of Texas, Irwin is right. In Iowa, where there is also a large Czech community, kolaches can be found in grocery stores, but they’re most definitely filled with fruit, not meat. There are other differences: Iowa’s kolaches have a rounder shape, with the fruit filling covering a larger area than their square-shaped Texas counterparts.

Des Moines Register columnist Courtney Crowder also made the distinction in 2017, when Curvey started his business. Curvey isn’t the only former Iowa State football player to get into the food business. Seneca Wallace opened his first Wingstop in central Iowa in 2018 and continues to franchise out.

One of the caretakers of the football trophy this weekend, 2001 North Tama graduate Scott Beenken, has “bohemiefarmer” as his Twitter handle, so we know a kolache when we see one. (Here’s a picture of Scott with the trophy and his business partner.)

In extremely related news, St. Ludmila’s Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids will not have its Kolach Festival next year while its now-closed school building is demolished and replaced with a community center. This will be be the third time in four years there hasn’t been a festival, and second time in four years there haven’t been kolaches.

*Ninety-nine-plus yards in twenty-one plays with five third-down conversions! CYCLONE STATE!

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Sep 09

Iowa-ISU game preview

Posted on Friday, September 9, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

One coach has won 10 games in a season three times in the past seven years; one hasn’t.

One coach has been to his conference’s championship game twice in the past seven years; one has been to it once.

One coach knows punting is winning; one didn’t hire a special teams coach “analyst” until this year.

One coach is the highest-paid employee of the state of Iowa; one coach is likely to be promised the gross domestic product of Nebraska (derived from corn and Runzas).

One coach’s conference is stable and filled with such storied matchups as Illinois-Rutgers; one coach’s conference has been picked for parts repeatedly and even the desperation replacements get more respect than his team on the national scene.

Guess which one has the angrier fanbase.

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Sep 07

1st and 1st in Cedar Rapids to undergo big change

Posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

First Avenue has been under construction in Cedar Rapids since late spring, and now a project in the downtown area will reshape a key intersection even more. Below I am reprinting the item from the city (linked here at the time of this post):

Starting Wednesday, September 6 [sic], 1st Street W will be closed to all traffic from 1st Avenue W to 2nd Avenue SW, and from 1st Avenue W to E Avenue NW, for permanent flood control construction. The closure is expected to be in place until fall of 2023. East/west traffic on 1st Avenue will be maintained.

This phase of permanent flood control construction includes relocating the 1st Avenue and 1st Street W intersection approximately 25 feet to the west to accommodate a future flood gate across 1st Avenue W. Additionally, 1st Street SW will be relocated westward, and 1st Street NW will be elevated over the top of the flood control system.

This intersection has significance in Iowa’s highway history. Starting in 1931, 1st Avenue at 1st Street SW is where US 161 split off from US 30 to head south to Iowa City. (In the decade before that, the primary highways through downtown Cedar Rapids used 2nd Avenue instead of 1st. That is the subject of a blog post I haven’t written yet but the dissertation on it is here.) When US 161 was broken up on January 1, 1938, US 151’s endpoint was southwestbound 1st Avenue at 1st Street, where it met US 218.

All the buildings in the intersection area were demolished as part of Cedar Rapids’ at-this-point quixotic quest for a casino. Google Street View went through the area before the empty space was created, although I missed the photo window before this year’s construction began. (Here’s the July 2012 view for the 1938-40 end of US 151.)

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