Highway Page Updates -- 2002 (July-December)
December 28:
- I found the date that the Hiawatha-to-Urbana segment of I-380 opened
-- August 14, 1984. IA 101
was decommissioned, the current IA 100
and IA 920 were designated, and IA 150
was relocated on that same day.
- Some updates from my recent Christmas road trip back to eastern Iowa:
December 21:
- I added entrance photo links to old US 32 and
US 34, and terminus photo links to IA
193, 225, 404,
Business US 18 (Mason City), Business
US 61 (Muscatine), and Business US 218 (Waverly).
- Jeff Morrison moved his IA 14,
66, and 930
terminus photo pages. He also pointed out that I misspelled Beeds Lake State Park in the
IA 134 (IV) listing. I also added links to his new
Lincoln Highway photo page from my Lincoln
Highway page in the Photo Gallery and the Scenic and Historic
Routes page.
- US 61 was realigned in the Burlington area around 1956.
- At Freeway Junctions, I updated the I-235 list; according
to i-235.com, the loop ramp from eastbound I-235 to westbound US 6/Euclid Avenue has been
permanently closed.
December 15:
- A 10-mile expressway segment of IA 5 opened on
Friday.
- I added terminus photo links to three unsigned highways -- IA 116,
928, and 941 --
while expanding the latter two listings to list alignment changes the way I do with regular
highways.
- At Freeway Junctions, I updated the IA 5/92 list after
I was in Knoxville yesterday. I also updated the I-35 list;
the West Des Moines Public Works website reported
that the Mills Civic Parkway interchange won't open until 2003.
December 8:
- New terminus photo links were added for IA 66,
old 72, old 95 (II),
old 155 (II), old 217,
243, 253,
259, 285,
old 328, old 344 (II),
383, and Business US 34 in
Chariton.
- Kurt Berge, via Jeff Morrison, found the secret number for old US 75 through Sioux
City: IA 376. Jeff also found the
decommissioning dates of IA 171 (II)
and IA 318, which were turned over at a Tama
County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 27, 1980.
- According to the December 4 Ottumwa Courier, as pointed out by Kyle Johnson,
IA 432 has been transferred from the state
to Mahaska County.
- During the past few months I have done some research on highway history at the
Public Library of Des Moines, where I have found back issues of the Des Moines
Register and the now-defunct Des Moines Tribune on microfilm. My research has
gone up through 1978 at this point; I will do more recent years on future trips.
- I found the opening dates for all but one segment of I-35,
most of I-80, and parts of I-29.
- All highways that were affected by the Great Renumbering were designated, decommissioned,
or otherwise changed on January 1, 1969. (With that in mind I added a listing for
IA 322 (II), which swapped routes with IA 254
that day but didn't last long.)
- Other highways that I added or modified date-related info include US 6,
IA 60 (II), IA 64,
IA 401, and IA 415.
I added a related blurb to the About this site page noting that
I only use exact dates when they are known.
- I also added more information to the IA 402 listing.
November 24:
November 22: A day off from work = a big day for updates.
- First, I removed the "ATTENTION" notice from the title page.
- New terminus photo links have been added to IA 36,
39, 110,
140, and 196.
In addition, Neil Bratney launched pages showing entrances of US 6,
US 20, and US 30. They will be
linked in the same manner as terminus photo pages are.
- Some decommissioned short spurs -- namely IA 178,
179, 250,
and 381 (II) -- weren't replaced with numbered
county roads as I had thought. In addition, while looking through the new Iowa Sportsman's Atlas, Jeff Morrison
also found a tenth county road that didn't pass his "straight line"
test. (I also gave the table a white background color.)
- Other route listing updates:
- US 6 was realigned in Iowa City in 1958.
- The westbound lane of IA 16 nicks the southwest corner of
Henry County for less than a mile.
- IA 68, 97,
and 286 do not continue as county roads.
- IA 122 goes all the way through Nora Springs before ending.
- I made some minor adjustments to the US 18,
US 63, US 218, and
IA 27 listings after driving the new expressway
and freeway segments near Plainfield and New Hampton recently.
- I replaced the old Iowa Winter Road Conditions link with
the DOT's new Iowa Road Conditions website, which was introduced today to coincide with the introduction
of its new 511 phone number to dial for travel information.
- At Freeway Junctions:
- New list: US 63 in New Hampton.
- The Avenue of the Saints north exit list has been updated
to show the opening of the Plainfield bypass and interchange with IA 188.
- A new interchange is under construction on IA 141 in
Polk County, and stoplights have been installed at IA 163 where
it intersects US 65.
November 14: With the opening of a 20-mile expressway segment today, the
US 65/IA 330 four-lane
diagonal link between Marshalltown and Des Moines has been completed. In addition, the
Iowa Road Work Report notes that the last piece of the US 63 New
Hampton bypass has been completed.
November 9:
- A front-page
story in yesterday's Des Moines Register noted that the I-235
reconstruction will be finished in 2007 -- one year later than it was originally planned -- if
the Transportation Commission approves a new five-year plan next month.
The new plan also calls for a one-year delay on the US 34 bypass
of Fairfield, a three-year delay of the US 61 bypass of Fort
Madison, and no funding for any of the projects that were dropped last year. (The story on the
new five-year plan from yesterday's Register is here.)
- The Avenue of the Saints segment around Plainfield also opened yesterday. I updated the
US 218 and IA 27
listings to reflect this; the exit list will be updated as soon as I can verify what is signed
at the IA 188 interchange.
November 3:
- Kyle Johnson mentioned that about ten miles of US 63 was
realigned south of Ottumwa; according to maps, the straightening happened around 1965. He
also mentioned that Wapello County Road J12 -- most of which is gravel and does not appear on the
state transportation map -- also fails Jeff Morrison's "straight line test" as it lies
north of County Road H47. This has been added to the table on the County
Roads page.
- Plans to finally improve US 20 in Dubuque are online, and
they're linked from that listing. I also added a link to Neil Bratney's I-680
exit list and emilebymile.com's I-35 list from the appropriate highway
listings.
- At Freeway Junctions, I updated the US 65/IA 5 list since the
Southwest Connector exit is now open and the signing discrepancy at Exit 102 has been fixed.
I also made a correction on the I-235 list: the 56th Street exit
is westbound only, not eastbound only.
October 27: I added a link to Neil Bratney's Exit Lists of the Missouri Valley
from the Freeway Junctions title page and the
I-29, I-80, and
I-480 route listings. I also changed the I-80 west
links from the I-35 and I-235
exit lists to point to his site.
October 20: It turns out a few "spur" highways -- namely,
IA 197, 240,
314, 315
and 359 -- don't continue from their endpoints as
county roads as I had previously thought. Those listings were updated.
October 16:
- The first expressway segment for IA 330 southwest
of Marshalltown opened last week; it runs northeastward from just outside of Melbourne to US 30.
- I also fixed the location of the Hiawatha Pioneer Trail's north-south split and the route of
the Iowa River Valley Scenic Byway on the Scenic and Historic Routes
page, courtesy of Jeff Morrison.
- I added terminus photo links for IA 4,
142, and 202.
October 11:
- The freeway east and south of Des Moines is now finished. A three-mile freeway
segment of IA 5 opened yesterday, completing
the 24-mile link between I-35 and I-80. The highway and exit listings
have been updated.
- Dennis Swanson reported that the second phase of the US 63
bypass of New Hampton opened on October 5; US 18 has also
been re-routed onto the bypass and IA 24 has been extended to
replace part of old US 18.
- Two new business US highways have been added to the route listings: one new (US 63 in New
Hampton) and one not-so-new (US 71 in Clarinda, pointed out by
David Backlin in a recent misc.transport.road post).
- New terminus photo links: IA 14,
40, 55,
and Business IA 92.
- Other exit list updates:
- One exit has closed on I-235 in downtown Des Moines, and
a temporary exit has opened nearby to replace it.
- I updated US 218 near Mount Pleasant and
IA 163 near Pella after a road trip through these areas last
Saturday.
- At the Photo Gallery, I fixed some captions on the first Odds 'n' Ends
and fifth Avenue of the Saints
pages after noticing some changes on that same road trip.
October 1: Moving day has arrived! Today the highway and exit listings were moved
to Mediacom Online, so if you're still linking to the old site, don't forget to update your bookmarks
and links to http://iowahighways.home.mchsi.com/. (I'm not sure how long the redirects
at the old site are going to last.)
- The e-mail address links on all pages have been changed to link to my new
address, j.hancock@mchsi.com.
- On the highway listings:
- I added terminus photo links for unsigned IA 263 and
for IA 57's pre-1986 alignment.
- Jeff Morrison discovered that part of the US 218 freeway
through Waterloo opened in November 1992, and I found that part of the US 30
freeway southwest of Cedar Rapids opened in September 1981. Those listings were updated.
- I also made some minor updates to the Links page
and added a few links from the County Roads and
Scenic and Historic Routes pages (while converting them
to the sky-blue background color the rest of the pages in the /highways/ directory have).
- I unveiled a new title graphic for Freeway Junctions,
featuring photos of selected area sign gantries. (All photos except for the I-80/74/280 photo
were taken from the Photo Gallery here; that one was in my collection but I had no use for it
on this site until now.)
- I also opened a second Tripod account and moved the Avenue of the Saints and Odds 'n' Ends
photos to the "iowahwypix2" account. In addition, I unveiled a new section for the Lincoln Highway
and added many new photos to the Odds 'n' Ends section, which has now been split up into seven pages, including
a new page dealing with county road signage. All pages are accessible from
the Photo Gallery main page.
September 24: A few corrections to the route listings:
- After Jeff Morrison brought this up in an e-mail, I fixed a few things on the
IA 57 and IA 58
listings regarding the mid-1950s route changes through Cedar Falls. Also, US 63
did not replace IA 389 (something I discovered a couple of years ago but overlooked until now).
- US 34 was realigned in two stages west of Ottumwa
in the early 1960s; I clarified the locations of the two segments.
September 21:
- The Iowa Highways Page is moving... again. I put a note on the title page on the upcoming
move from Internet Navigator to Mediacom Online, scheduled for October 1.
- I added a terminus photo link for IA 181.
September 19: The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reported Saturday that the
IA 32 extension opened to traffic last Friday.
September 15:
- I added terminus photo links to IA 17,
81, and 136.
I also added Jeff Morrison's commentary on US 20, which straddles
county lines east of Iowa Falls, and the east end of IA 383,
which makes a 180-degree turn before ending.
- I also updated some historical data on US 218,
IA 84 (II), and IA 153 (II);
it turns out US 218 was realigned between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City in three stages rather
than two.
- At Freeway Junctions, I updated the I-235 exit list after
a couple of exits have permanently closed because of the reconstruction project.
- I finally added some more photos to the Photo Gallery.
These include new photos of the latest Avenue of the Saints segment near Plainfield; other
new photos are in the Des Moines, Waterloo, Quad Cities, Iowa City, and Burlington sections.
The Des Moines section is now split up into three pages; Waterloo and Quad Cities, into two.
Because of space issues at my Tripod site, I also deleted some obsolete photos in these sections
and cropped a few others so they don't take up as much space.
September 12: Dennis Swanson reports that part of the
US 63 bypass of New Hampton has opened; the rest will open later
this fall. Meanwhile, the US 151 bypass of Cascade also
opened yesterday.
September 5:
- Tim Habeck reports that IA 313 in Osceola County is
no more.
- Several terminus photo pages have moved to Neil Bratney's site because of space issues at
Jeff Morrison's site. With that in mind, I changed the links from IA 31,
37, 41,
45, 48,
83, 115,
127, 145,
161, 165,
183, 184,
191, 192,
239, 242,
244, 276,
300, 301,
324, 327,
333, 347,
362, 370,
385, 978,
982, and 988, and I added new links
for IA 4, 9,
10, 12,
northern 15, 32,
60, 62,
86, 91,
113, 157,
old 162, 173,
182, 238,
322, 384,
and 403.
On another note, photos I've taken of US 67's north end are
now on Dale Sanderson's US highway endings page.
- The Gazette of Cedar Rapids noted last Saturday that the US 151
bypass of Cascade will open later this month, but the segments between Cascade and Anamosa won't
be finished until 2003 and the segment from Cascade to US 61 won't be done until 2004. Meanwhile,
the IA 32 extension is also expected to open this month. I also updated the scheduled completion
dates for new US 30 segments east of Marshalltown.
August 29:
- I found out that the Black Hawk Bridge, which carried IA 9 from
Lansing into Wisconsin, was closed between 1945 and 1957. That listing was updated.
- I added links to the US Route 6 Touring Association's page (which Keith Nichols brought
to my attention) from the US 6 listing. I also added a link
to the US 20 Corridor Association's page from that highway's listing.
August 10:
- I updated the About Me page after completing my move from
Cedar Rapids to Des Moines (and as a bonus, I added a little surprise). In addition, I
updated the link to the State Historical Society of Iowa from the route listings'
About This Site page.
- On Sunday the Des Moines Register ran articles on how US 6
has become "Iowa's forgotten highway" after the completion of I-80, and I linked to their
website -- which has some must-see material -- from the route listing. The articles mentioned
the exact date that straightened US 6 east of Grinnell opened, as well as the approximate date
that the realigned US 218 opened between Cedar Rapids and
Iowa City. The print edition also mentioned that IA 2 (I)
and IA 7 (I) had switched routes between 1923 and 1924, confirming
what the 1923 Midget Road Map that I have says.
August 4:
- The Hawk Eye of Burlington reported Friday that the
rest of the US 218/IA 27 bypass around
Mount Pleasant has opened. I updated both route listings and the exit list
to reflect this.
- I also updated the I-380 exit list to reflect a supplementary
signage change south of Cedar Rapids.
July 29:
- Since this size of this file was getting big, I decided to move the updates for the
first half of 2002 (January through June) onto its own page.
- The temporary truncation of IA 32 at Asbury Road is no
more as the segment between Asbury and JFK Road in Dubuque re-opened to traffic last week. That
listing was updated.
- I also updated the exit lists for US 20 and
US 61 to reflect some changes I spotted while in Dubuque
yesterday.
July 25:
- At Freeway Junctions, I redid each list to de-emphasize any text that does not appear
on signs; they now appear in regular type while text that does appear on the signs
is in bold type. At the same time:
- I updated the Avenue of the Saints north leg list to
include the new four-lane segment north of Waverly and to include some changes in
supplementary signage near Charles City.
- I also added the new interchange at I-35 and Mills Civic Parkway
in West Des Moines that is currently under construction.
- A few Welcome Centers in Iowa are now "Primary Iowa Welcome Centers" (which
must meet certain criteria for operating hours and facilities to be considered one). The
I-35, I-80 west, I-80 central,
and US 34 lists were updated accordingly.
- Finally, I updated all of the links to the route listings.
- I added a link to the US 20 Mississippi River bridge (in Dubuque) project website from the
US 20 route listing.
July 24:
- A new four-lane segment of US 61 and IA 92 opened
southwest of Muscatine earlier this month.
- The temporary detour-related extension of IA 346 is no
more as US 218/IA 27 was re-opened between Charles City
and Nashua and between Plainfield and Waverly last week. On top of that, a new four-lane
segment from a point south of Plainfield to the north end of the Waverly bypass opened to
traffic on July 19.
July 16: I uploaded the rest of the new route listings and updated the links from
all pages in the /highways/ directory today. (The links to the new listings are on the title
page.) After another trip to the State Historical Society, I also updated designation,
decommissioning, and alignment change years to various other listings where I previously had
listed date ranges (decades or parts of decades). Hopefully the new listing pages are more
accurate and informative than the old ones, but I (and the readers of this site) am always
finding new things about the history of Iowa's roads.
July 14: A new scenic byway in Delaware County -- the Delaware Crossing Scenic
Byway -- was profiled in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on Friday and dedicated today.
That has been added to the Scenic and Historic Routes
page, while I also updated the links on that page to point to the new route listings.
While in the area yesterday I also found that IA 116 (I)
did not become County Road X21 after it was decommissioned; that listing was updated.
July 12:
- I uploaded new pages for highways between 200-299.
- I added a missing alignment change for IA 57 that
Jeff Morrison pointed out, and fixed the terminus photo links for 57 and
IA 58.
July 7:
- I uploaded new pages for highways between 100-199 (they're in groups of 20) and fixed the
appropriate links on the other new pages.
- I also fixed the IA 5 listing to show that the Pleasantville
bypass is expected to open in 2003 (per the five-year plan) instead of 2002.
July 6:
- I uploaded new and updated versions of all route listings between 1 and 99 today, splitting them
into 10 per page (instead of the previous 25) to reduce the sizes of these files. I plan to upload five
pages at a time from here on out; keep checking this page for further updates! The new files
are linked from all Interstate and US listings and the index page.
- Jeff Morrison found the exact date that the US 20 freeway segment
west of US 63 in Waterloo opened, which also caused the switch with IA 57
-- June 14, 1986. Also, Nick Wilwert found a document on i-235.com that showed the opening dates
for every segment of I-235. I updated that listing and cited the
source.
Past updates:
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© 2002 by Jason Hancock