Highway Page Updates — 2008
December 28: Two quick exit list updates:
- Signs have changed at I-80 exit 242 in Coralville. While only the eastbound signs at this exit have been replaced at this point, the westbound signs will likely be replaced with this same signage by the time the widening of this stretch of I-80 is completed.
- The interchange with US 218 and Washington County Road G36 is not going to open by the end of this year, so I updated the completion date.
December 18:
- While driving through southeast Iowa around Thanksgiving, I found that the the Fairfield bypass (US 34) is seven miles long between the west and east interchanges. I also adjusted the lengths of the expressway segments between Ottumwa and Fairfield (20 miles) and between Fairfield and Mount Pleasant (15 miles).
- I have also updated the I-380 exit list to note the removal of the now-defunct IMAX theater in Cedar Rapids from the secondary signs at Exits 19A and 20A, while the welcome center at Living History Farms is no longer signed along I-35/80 at Exit 125.
November 18: Highway openings to report:
- The last four-lane segment of IA 60 opened earlier this month, according to Michael Ehret.
- Brian Stains reports that the US 34 bypass of Fairfield opened today. Jeff Morrison attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 12; both he and Brian provided exit data that has been added to the US 34 exit list.
- In addition, Dan Drackley mentioned that the US 34 bridge at Plattsmouth has reopened.
November 9:
- Catching up on my photo backlog with these Photo Gallery updates:
- Ames: Added one and replaced one photo
- Avenue of the Saints: Added six and replaced two photos
- Cedar Rapids: Added two photos from Zach Simmen that were submitted by Jeff Morrison
- Central Iowa Odds 'n' Ends: Added five photos, including two from Mark Odor, and replaced two photos. Photos are under Butler, Dallas, Hamilton, Hardin, Marshall, and Story counties.
- Council Bluffs: Added one photo from Jeff Morrison
- County road markers: Added three photos, including one from Jeff Morrison, and replaced two
- Eastern Iowa Odds 'n' Ends: Added two photos, including one from Jeff Morrison, and replaced three. Photos are under Jefferson and Lee counties
- I-235 in Des Moines: Replaced 17 photos
- Iowa City: Added one photo
- Lincoln Highway: Moved page from Tripod to Mediacom to free some space on the Tripod server and replaced one photo
- Mississippi River Bridges: Moved page from Tripod to Mediacom and replaced two photos
- Quad Cities: Added one and replaced four photos
- Waterloo/Cedar Falls: Replaced ten photos
- Western Iowa Odds 'n' Ends: Added nine and replaced three photos under Audubon, Cherokee, Clay, Emmet, Guthrie, Harrison, Palo Alto, and Plymouth counties
- IA 60 near the Minnesota border was dedicated on October 21 but is not expected to open until later this month.
- Freeway Junctions updates:
- Huxley is now a primary destination for I-35 exit 102, with Slater having been moved to the secondary sign.
- I updated the US 218 in Waterloo exit list to reflect some recent signage changes.
October 19:
- The Iowa Transportation Commission recently added three new four-laning projects to the 2009-2013 transportation improvement program thanks to funding from the TIME-21 fund (see news release here): US 20 from US 71 to Sac County Road N14, US 30 from State Center to IA 330, and US 63 from a point south of IA 188 to IA 3.
- I also updated the external links to Mark Roberts' Missouri Highways Page for all highways that border Missouri.
- Jeff Morrison spotted a signage change at I-29 exit 72.
October 12:
- I added four photos and replaced five photos on the Ottumwa page of the Photo Gallery.
- Brian Stains has informed me that part of the Fairfield bypass opened to traffic on September 25 and that the remainder of the bypass is scheduled to open November 12. The route and exit listings have been updated.
- Meanwhile, in northwest Iowa, Michael Ehret found out that the last four-lane segment of IA 60 is scheduled to open October 21.
September 28:
August 24:
- I combined the US 30 exit lists for Ames and Marshalltown into one list that now covers the entire road from US 169 in Ogden to IA 146 in Le Grand.
- Through the Cedar Rapids Public Library's online newspaper archive, I was able to find a few opening/relocation dates for highways in the Cedar Rapids area. All are from issues of The Gazette that are stored in the archive.
- IA 381 (I)'s decommissioning coincided with the opening of the relocated US 30 on November 10, 1953.
- The city council approved IA 74 (II)'s relocation onto F Avenue on November 13, 1956, and the highway was originally moved onto one-way streets in April 1963.
- The renumberings of IA 74 (II) to IA 94 (II) was announced on November 9, 1966, as was the renumbering of IA 235 (II) to IA 245 in Marshall County.
- US 151 was officially taken off the A Avenue viaduct on November 4, 1970.
August 10:
- According to this page, the Iowa DOT began removing signs for the Hiawatha Pioneer Trail in June. I updated that listing on the Scenic and Historic Routes page to reflect this.
- The paving of L.A. Grant Parkway in Waukee would normally seem insignificant to this site, but that road — formerly V Avenue in Dallas County before Waukee annexed the land around it — was part of US 32 until 1931. The Des Moines page was updated to note this.
- I spotted a secondary signage change at I-80 exit 113.
July 27: Two exit list updates:
- The last segment of the Avenue of the Saints opened in northeast Missouri on July 25, so I have updated the US 218/Avenue of the Saints south exit list to reflect that.
- Michael Ehret informed me that the south IA 60 interchange into Sibley has opened.
June 29:
- I added or replaced 42 photos in the Des Moines Photo Gallery; many of them are newer and better-quality images of photos that were previously there.
- The Iowa DOT's 2009-2013 transportation plan was recently approved, and some projects include:
- Widening of I-29/I-80 in Council Bluffs, I-29 in Sioux City, and I-80 in Iowa City has been programmed, with work in Iowa City scheduled for completion by 2010.
- Paving of the relocated US 20 is scheduled for completion from IA 4 to Moorland in 2010 and from Sac County Road N14 to IA 4 in 2012. According to this May 15 story in the Fort Dodge Messenger, funding made available from the TIME-21 law passed earlier this year has enabled the paving of all four lanes of these segments rather than two lanes as initially reported.
- New four-lane segments of US 30 between Colo and State Center and through Toledo and Tama are scheduled for completion in 2010.
- An extension of the US 63 expressway from US 18 to IA 188 is still on track for completion by the end of 2009.
- An IA 3 bypass of Akron is scheduled for completion by the end of 2009.
- Also, according to the DOT's map of Osceola County, the former IA 60 segment through Sibley is indeed part of the unsigned IA 404.
- US 6 is now on the majority of signs at the I-80/IA 14 interchange, so I updated the I-80 in central Iowa exit list.
June 17: I uploaded photos that I took of flooding in Des Moines area over this past weekend to this gallery, which is hosted by Flickr. Remember to check 511ia.org for the latest information on road closings.
June 1: A busy personal life has prevented me from doing much updating lately, but today I added 14 new photos and replaced 34 photos on the I-235 page of the Photo Gallery with photos that were taken over the last two months. (I also had to move it to a new subdomain as I was out of disk space on the iowahwypix subdomain.) More photos, including newer and better-quality images of existing signs in the Des Moines area, are coming soon.
April 26:
- While in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area earlier this month I noticed that signs for IA 165 in Carter Lake have been taken down. I noted this in the listing, but I did not change the status of the route since it still appears on the 2008 state transportation map. (If you have any additional information on IA 165's status, please e-mail me.)
- Last September AASHTO's Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering approved a new Business US 34 in Fairfield that will replace the existing US 34 once the bypass opens later this year.
- Also on the subject of US 34, Jeff Morrison found out that the new US 34 bridge over the Missouri River would be part of a westward extension of the four-lane segment near Glenwood that is scheduled for completion by the fall of 2013.
- Freeway Junctions has completed its expansion into eastern Nebraska with four new exit lists: I-80 between US 77 in Lincoln and the Missouri River, I-180 in Lincoln, US 77 in Lincoln, and US 275/US 6 between Fremont and Omaha. I also updated the US 75 North Freeway exit list and added links from other exit lists where appropriate.
- I also updated the Links page.
April 2: The I-235 exit list has been updated to reflect speed limit changes that took effect today.
March 30:
- The Plattsmouth Toll Bridge that carries US 34 between Plattsmouth, NE, and Mills County has a new owner: the city of Plattsmouth, which purchased the bridge for $1 last November 30. (Source: Lincoln Journal-Star article, via Jeff Morrison) The bridge will close between May and November for repairs.
- According to this story in the Washington Evening Journal, construction has begun on a new interchange of US 218/IA 27 at County Road G36 north of Ainsworth that is expected to be finished this fall. I added that interchange to the US 218 exit list as well as the interchange at MO 27 and US 61 that is under construction as part of the last Avenue of the Saints segment in Missouri that is scheduled for completion this summer.
- I added three photos and replaced three photos in the Des Moines Photo Gallery.
February 29: There hasn't been much going on lately, hence the lack of updates, but here are a couple:
- The 2008 state transportation map is available online now. The only update related to the map was for IA 404 (II), which may apply to the black line that is the former segment of IA 60 through Sibley.
- I made a minor change to the Highways of Des Moines page noting that the I-235 reconstruction has been finished.
February 3: I added terminus photo links for three business routes that were created in 2007: US 63 in Ottumwa, US 75 in Le Mars, and IA 60 in Sheldon.
January 12: I have launched a new page for historic highway alignments in Iowa City. Links have been added from the front page and the appropriate highway listings.
January 1:
- It's hard to believe, but I launched this site ten years ago January 8, and I have placed a 10th anniversary banner on the front page. For a blast from the past: here is the original announcement that I made to misc.transport.road (don't click on the link in that message -- it's 404), while this is the earliest archived version of the site that I could find on the Wayback Machine. I have moved the site three times since its original launch: from Geocities to the now-defunct Xoom/NBCi.com in January 1999, then to Internet Navigator in May 2001, and finally to Mediacom Online in October 2002. I launched the iowahighways.org domain name at the beginning of 2004.
Things have changed in the last decade: more four-lane highways exist now than they did in 1998, I-235 was completely rebuilt, and the state highway system is smaller now thanks mostly to the decommissionings of 2003. This site has also grown over the past decade: the highway listings have a lot more historical information thanks to extensive research from Jeff Morrison and myself, Freeway Junctions now covers all of Iowa and parts of Illinois and Nebraska, and the Photo Gallery has grown exponentially from the handful of eastern Iowa photos that I had when I launched that section in the fall of 1998.
Thanks go to everyone who has contributed information and photos over the years. My life has changed over the past decade as well, and while other things have kept me busy recently, I will continue to update this site periodically.
- Austin Draude notes that the Isle of Capri casino in Waterloo is now signed along US 20 and I-380.
Past updates:
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© 2008 by Jason Hancock