Site updates

Highway Page Updates -- 2005 (January-June)

June 26:

Some US 34 news: The Mount Pleasant bypass' opening has been delayed indefinitely because of a construction error, as an article in Friday's Burlington Hawk Eye has pointed out.
I've updated several Photo Gallery pages:

The Sioux City page has been completely redone, as several photos that were on there were either deleted or replaced while new captions were written and other photos were rearranged. Photos from the trip Jeff Morrison and I took up there on June 12 were added.
Photos were also added to the Des Moines, Ames, Council Bluffs, Fort Dodge, Waterloo/Cedar Falls, and the Central, East, and West Odds 'n' Ends pages. Contributions from Jeff Morrison and Mark Odor were among the new photos that were added.

June 19:

Jeff Morrison and I drove up to Sioux City a week ago. Among the highlights of this trip: I-129 has new signs with shields on southbound I-29, but some text "I-129" signs are still up; US 75 uses its old exit numbers north of US 20 (although this was already known, I added that note to the listing), and US 20 is actually two lanes wide through Lawton despite most maps showing it as four lanes.
I made several minor updates to the Highways of Des Moines page. The US 65/69 one-way pair near I-235 actually took effect on September 16, 1965, according to an article in the Des Moines Tribune from the previous day, while the picture page of the Tribune's October 26, 1970, issue noted that the four-lane US 65/69 south of Army Post Road opened that month. In other Des Moines-area news, the change in the traffic flow of 5th Street in West Des Moines would ordinarily seem insignificant for this site, but since a branch of the Dragoon Trail follows this route, I made a note of this in the Scenic and Historic Routes page.
I made several updates to the I-235 exit list to reflect recent ramp closings. I also removed some broken links from the I-74 list, from the Freeway Junctions title page, and from the main Links page.
Photo Gallery updates are coming soon, including new photos from the Des Moines area and several photos from the Sioux City trip.

June 1:

I launched the new Highways of Des Moines page that shows historical highway alignments in the Des Moines area. This page includes an overview essay with maps that I created using Greenstreet Draw 3.0 and other programs (see the bottom of the About This Site page for more), as well as alignment summaries for the major highways in the Des Moines area. Information is based on maps and newspaper articles that I have found upon making numerous trips to the Des Moines Public Library and the State Historical Building.
After more research I updated paving histories for most of the roads that were paved between 1937 and 1939 as well as a few others in the 1940s and 1950s. I also updated designation years for highways 350 through 372, as I was off by a year on some of them.

May 22:

After doing research at the State Historical Society in Iowa City on Thursday, I updated many paving and alignment histories for roads that were changed after 1950. (Time contraints prevented me from getting everything that I wanted to research and I missed a few while taking notes, so I will have to make another trip in the future.)
I also added J.D. Adams' comments about the surface of the former IA 266.

May 18:

I added paving histories to all remaining highways, starting at IA 300.
After looking at the 1959 and 1960 maps during a short trip to the State Historical Building yesterday, I updated all highway listings for roads that were paved or realigned between 1958 and 1961.

May 15: I added paving histories for all highways from 200 through 299.

May 11:

I added paving histories for all highways from 100 through 199. I also added a note to the 900 series page saying that all highways listed were paved at the time of designation.
The US 34 bypass of Batavia opened today, as reported in the Ottumwa Courier.
Jeff Morrison mentioned that IA 46 (I) and IA 93 were straightened in the 1930s, creating spur highways to serve bypassed towns. I also made updates to US 75 (changing some realignment dates) and US 218 (changing the south endpoint of the expressway segment that opened in 1993, as pointed out by Ed Breed).

May 6: I added paving histories for highways 60-69, 70-79, 80-89, and 90-99.

May 4: I added paving histories for highways 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59 while making minor updates to 1-9 and 10-19 plus US 218.

May 1: I added paving histories for highways 1-9 and highways 10-19 while making minor updates to US 18, US 30, and US 169.

April 30:

I have decided to add a new feature to the highway listings: paving history. Based on the maps that I have, I added paving histories to all US highway listings (starting at US 6). State highways will be updated during the next month or so.
After doing research earlier this month, I found out that signage of the US highway system was finished on October 16, 1926. The Des Moines Register of the following day ran an article that noted this. The state highway listings will be updated to reflect this when paving histories are added. In the meantime, I noted that IA 117 was extended (and US 65 relocated) in 1940, and IA 99 (II) was designated in 1931, not 1934.

April 17: I updated the I-235 and I-80 west exit lists to reflect recent interchange closings.

April 3: I went to the State Historical Building yesterday and found out, through various newspaper articles and old maps:

The US 63 expressway between Eddyville and Ottumwa opened July 16, 1997; this resulted in new alignments for US 63, IA 23, IA 137, and IA 149. (Info gathered from the Ottumwa Courier and the Eddyville Tribune)
The four-laned US 30 around De Witt opened in two stages in 1975, according to the De Witt Observer, while the US 61 freeway between US 30 and I-80 opened December 1, 1982, according to the North Scott Press of Eldridge.
I added three alignment changes for US 59 that Jeff Morrison pointed out. Also, after seeing a 1922 state highway map in the State Historical Building's map collection, I have concluded that highways 108 through 112 (I) were designated in 1922, since they did not appear on that map.
The Ottumwa Courier also covered a March 25 DOT meeting that updated the construction status of the US 63 Ottumwa bypass and the remaining segments of US 34 between Ottumwa and Burlington in this article. A map in the print edition showed completion dates of each individual segment; I updated both the US 34 and US 63 listings to reflect that. The whole project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.

March 31: Some updates thanks to research from Jeff Morrison:

US 18 had a different alignment from Everly to Spencer until 1930, and two segments of IA 16 (I) had alignment changes around the time it became US 169.
He also found out the opening date for the US 63 expressway between Oskaloosa and Eddyville, and that the IA 163 bypass of Oskaloosa opened in two stages. The piece north of IA 92 (which created IA 432) opened after the piece between IA 92 and US 63.

March 21:

Two minor updates to highway histories: I found out that IA 46 (II) was decommissioned in 1950, and I added the date that IA 141 was realigned south of Granger (something I mentioned on IA 401's listing, but not on 141's).
Freeway Junctions updates: the 7th Street exit on I-235 is closed as of today, and Nathan Bush let me know that there were some signage changes on US 20 in the Fort Dodge area.

March 13:

The 2005 state transportation map is online now, and with that comes some updates to the route listings:

The unsigned IA 337 (old US 151 through Langworthy) and IA 368 (old IA 5 in Hartford and Pleasantville) now appear as gray lines (instead of black lines) on the map, so I have converted their listings to the format used for decommissioned roads.
It turns out that the shortest highway in Iowa -- IA 165 -- is actually part of the National Highway System (as is the unnumbered Abbott Drive in Omaha).
Note: Although the map shows the US 34 Mount Pleasant bypass as completed, Jeff Morrison contacted the DOT and they said it will not open until this summer. The map also shows new four-lane segments of US 218/IA 27 south of Mount Pleasant; if anyone can confirm that these four-lane segments are actually open, please e-mail me and I will add them to the listings.

The Iowa River Bridge website is no longer online, so I removed it from the US 20 listing.
I also updated the I-235 exit list to reflect the reduction of open lanes between 19th and 73rd Streets, and the permanent closing of the 35th Street exit ramp.

February 27: After looking through my map collection I noticed that IA 123 (I) was extended westward to I-35 before it was decommissioned. I also spotted an error on the IA 415 listing that I fixed.

February 16:

It's amazing that once you think you've found every old highway alignment after seven years of doing this site, I always bump into more "lost" highway incarnations. In this case, after a recent trip to the State Historical Building, I found out that the current IA 187 was originally the first IA 208. It lasted only about a year until it was renumbered.
It also turns out that IA 155 (I) isn't what I thought it was.
I updated some highway alignment change years in a few cases where I had a range of years instead of a single year, particularly: IA 4 (I), IA 9, IA 39 (I), IA 60 (I), IA 64 (I), IA 74 (I), IA 86 (I), IA 107, IA 192, and IA 277.
I also found a book there, Climbing the Mississippi River: Bridge by Bridge, that listed many opening dates for Mississippi River bridges. With that I updated the Mississippi River Bridges Photo Gallery page and some of the appropriate route listings.
One for the corrections file: Ed Breed pointed out that US 63 north of Waterloo was actually upgraded in two stages. I also added a 1937 alignment change for US 65 and US 69 in Des Moines; in the near future I plan to list all of Des Moines' highway alignments on its own page.

February 6:

Jeff Morrison did some research and found opening dates for these highways:

The US 61 expressway between Burlington and Fort Madison
The US 65 expressway between Bondurant and County Road S27
The IA 5/92 expressway west of Knoxville
The IA 28 diagonal in southwest Des Moines
The IA 58/US 218 expressway in Cedar Falls
The IA 141 expressway between US 169 and Granger
The IA 163 bypass of Pella

IA 46 (III)

At Freeway Junctions, I updated the I-235 exit list to reflect signage changes on the newly-rebuilt segment in West Des Moines. I also tweaked the I-35 central list.

January 23:

It appears that there were some alignment changes with IA 188. State highway maps from 1964 through 1966 show that the former IA 53 (II) spur into Clarksville was the second incarnation of IA 122 (making the current IA 122 the third) while the gravel IA 188 segment between Plainfield and Clarksville was under control of Butler County. By 1967 IA 188 was extended to IA 3 again.
Mark Odor found out the secret route designation for the former US 30 segment in Le Grand: the second incarnation of IA 431.
I added terminus photo links to unsigned IA 438 and the former IA 986, and changed the link from IA 110.
Photo Gallery updates:

Title page: Added two external links, to AbsoluteDSM.com and the Iowa Geographical Map Server
Burlington: Added one photo and replaced one
Cedar Rapids: Added one photo near I-380 in the downtown area
Quad Cities: Added two photos and replaced three, all involving US 61 signage in Davenport
County Road Markers: Added one photo, of a County Road 79 marker west of Burlington
Central Iowa Odds 'n' Ends: Added a Marshall County photo from Jeff Morrison
Eastern Iowa Odds 'n' Ends: Added two photos, a Jones County photo from myself and a Clinton County photo from Jeff Morrison

January 16:

I added a terminus photo link to IA 979 and updated some information on IA 965. I also removed several broken links from the US 6 listing and added a link to the new TripGuide for the Des Moines area on the Links page.
After looking through some of the county maps on iowadotmaps.com (which are now dated January 1, 2004), I noticed that the IA 368 designation does indeed apply to the former IA 5 in Pleasantville. In addition, the former US 218 northwest of Nashua is now unsigned IA 254 and the former US 151 in Langworthy is now unsigned IA 337, marking the second time 337 has been used as an unsigned highway number. Also, Jeff Morrison mentioned that two segments of IA 107 are still active. I still list the road as decommissioned because of the removal of signage, but I made a note of this on the route listing.
Photo Gallery updates:

Avenue of the Saints: I added 13 new photos from my December 24 trip down there, including the completed four-lane bridge across the Des Moines River and the new MO 27.
Des Moines: I added five new photos -- including shots of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway extension -- and replaced three photos with newer ones.
Waterloo/Cedar Falls: Several readers have informed me that new tenth-mile markers have been placed along I-380, US 20, and US 218. I added a photo of one that Jeff Morrison submitted.

January 5: The seventh anniversary of this site is almost here, and with it comes some updates:

A few notes from my Christmas trip through southeast Iowa: The former IA 79 and IA 99 -- which have kept their numbers as county roads -- are now signed with pentagon markers in Des Moines County. However, none of the former state highways in Louisa County (99, 252, or 305) are signed along US 61, nor are there any signs for a Business US 34 in New London.
I found out the opening dates for the first and second US 65 freeway segments east of Des Moines.
I also updated the Links page, adding MidwestBridges.com and updating a few others.
Freeway Junctions updates:

Although the four-laning south of Mount Pleasant has not been completed, I have extended the US 218 exit list southward to cover the Avenue of the Saints all the way to US 61; this brings Freeway Junctions into Missouri for the first time. Also, with the completion of the Eddyville bypass, I have extended the IA 163 exit list to cover US 63 between Oskaloosa and Ottumwa.
Minor updates have also been made to the I-74, IL 92, and both US 34 lists thanks to field checks made on my Christmas trip.

Past updates:

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