Mar 19

Associated Press features Historic 20 project

Posted on Thursday, March 19, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I caught up with Bryan Farr in February during his most recent trip across the state to promote old US 20 as a scenic/historic route across the country. He’s been making a lot of progress.

Now the Associated Press has a story about him and his work, and Iowa figures prominently in it. “Iowa could be a model” in how the historic route is presented across the country, he said.

Iowa became a good testing ground because nearly all of “old 20” has been separated from present four-lane 20, the state put up a digital map collection a few years ago, and there’s a certain roadgeek who might have pushed some crucial bits of research.

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Mar 17

North Tama closed ‘for an extended period’

Posted on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

From the school’s Facebook page:

The North Tama County Community School District will be temporarily suspending all activities and instruction for an extended period starting on TUESDAY, MARCH 17.

The school time will need to be made up to meet the state requirements for hours, unless that ends up suspended statewide.

The one day of school Monday was to get ready for the closure. It was also the day that the state “Unified Activities” organizations banned all extracurriculars for at least four weeks. That includes wiping out state speech and music large group contest.

There is no way enough students have Internet capabilities necessary for “distance learning”.

At the time this blog post was written, the Drake Relays hadn’t been cancelled yet — but as literally the earliest remaining event on the national sports calendar, and with the Penn Relays cancelled Monday, it’s the next domino to fall. Then the Kentucky Derby, Indy 500…

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Mar 16

Now what?

Posted on Monday, March 16, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

As a professional introvert, I am willing to share my experiences with the CDC and Iowa Department of Public Health as needed.

I might only post sporadically for a while.

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Mar 14

North Winn land for county plow barn?

Posted on Saturday, March 14, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The online Decorah News has a story about Winneshiek County reaching out to the Decorah school district regarding the North Winneshiek school property (and softball diamond). The county wants to build a snow plow barn, which would probably(?) result in the demolition of the school.

It’s only in the preliminary stage but something to watch.

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Mar 12

Balance problem? What balance problem?

Posted on Thursday, March 12, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff
  • In the 2019 boys’ basketball state tournament, half the teams were private schools. Grand View Christian won the championship by beating two other private schools.
  • In the 2019 state baseball tournament, three of the Class 1A participants were private schools.
  • In the 2019 state volleyball tournament, three of the Class 1A participants were private schools.
  • In the 2019 football postseason, three of the Class 1A state quarterfinalists were private schools.
  • In the 2020 girls’ state basketball tournament, half the Class 1A teams were private schools.
  • In the 2020 boys’ state tournament, two of the Class 1A teams were private schools.

The IHSAA massaged Class 4A districts for 2020 and put everyone on a one-year rotation “over competitive concerns” because the Des Moines schools can’t beat the suburbs (0-126 in recent years and counting). If competitive balance is a concern, we need to talk about ALL kinds of competitive balance.

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Mar 10

Perry pavement had a good run

Posted on Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

While doing research I discovered that Park Street on the northwest side of Perry was still its original concrete with original curbs. Was.

Google imagery showed a brand new asphalt overlay on top of that road for its 1-mile length. An item at the end of a city council story in the Perry Chief confirmed it: The concrete visible in the 2013 Street View was covered up in summer 2018.

That pavement opened September 17, 1935, based on an article the previous week in the Perry Press. Unfortunately, it was a super case of bad timing. Weeks later, the Highway Commission approved moving IA 46 a mile south between Dawson and Perry. However, that road would not be paved until 1941 (and renumbered IA 141 the same year), so it’s possible that Park Street continued to get a decent amount of traffic until then.

Having the highway relocated basically at the same time the paving was completed may explain how that concrete made it three-quarters of a century before an overlay created a new surface that also widened the road by leveling the new asphalt with the lips of the curbs.

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Mar 09

US 151 Fairfax construction starts today

Posted on Monday, March 9, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Construction season is getting an early start this year, as US 151 is closed through Fairfax starting today.

An article from KHAK radio says the closure is related to the railroad bridge. This is, in turn, related to a planned rebuild of 151 through Fairfax. At the end of it, there will be a major change. The city of Cedar Rapids is the lead agency on a roundabout at 151 (Williams Boulevard) and Dean Avenue, even though, strictly speaking, this puts a city in charge of a project on a state-maintained road on county land. It will be the first roundabout on 151.


Detail from Linn County GIS site. It’s worth noting that the development between Williams Boulevard and Beverly Road to the south is part of neither Fairfax nor Cedar Rapids.

The US 151 detour will be on US 30, I-380, and E70 (PDF map).

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Mar 06

Historic downtown Hamburg buildings to be demolished

Posted on Friday, March 6, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

🙁

WOWT: Hamburg’s Main Street set for major demolition

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Mar 05

Iowa Trivia Challenge, you say?

Posted on Thursday, March 5, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Challenge accepted.

“Learning these facts has been my job for over half my life. Much to my family’s dismay, I never missed a historic marker,” said Rundlett.

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Mar 04

Southwest Arterial’s new goal: Labor Day

Posted on Wednesday, March 4, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Heavy rain last year prevented Dubuque’s Southwest Arterial from being completed. A story last week from KWWL (which I can’t embed) gives an update on the plans for this spring and summer. The concrete got laid, but completion will be ongoing until around Labor Day, the story says.

The Dubuque Telegraph-Herald had a story on the arterial last month, but I saw the hard copy and the online version is unavailable.

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