1 history
1.1 great white way
1.2 river-to-river road
1.3 whiteway-7-highway
1.4 u.s. numbered highways
1.5 abandoned sections
history
the white pole road in casey
before u.s. highway system came being in 1926, roads in iowa maintained , promoted local organizations sought drive traffic communities. 2 such organizations created virtually parallel routes connecting council bluffs , davenport via des moines. routes, southern great white way , northern river-to-river road, merged whiteway-7-highway. new route followed great white way council bluffs des moines , river-to-river road des moines davenport. in 1926, whiteway-7-highway became us 32, became us 6 in 1931. time, us 6 busiest highway in state. after i-80 built near us 6, portions of u.s. highway moved onto interstate highway. interest in original us 6 corridor has grown in 21st century people seek drive traffic communities.
great white way
the great white way formed in 1910 white pole auto club. route built along chicago, rock island & pacific railroad between council bluffs , des moines. members of auto club painted poles along route white, lead route known white pole road. great white way passed through oakland, atlantic, adair, de soto, , valley junction. in late 1912, great white way extended east davenport, passing through pella, oskaloosa, washington, , muscatine. in 1913, when iowa state highway commission began registering named trails longer 25 miles (40 km), great white way association paid $5.00 fee ($121.00 in 2016 dollars) become first official registered highway route on july 30, 1914. when primary highway system created, great white way assigned primary road no. 2.
in 2002, group of residents adair, casey, menlo, stuart, , dexter formed new group promote white pole road. intention bring visitors towns diverting traffic nearby i-80 / us 6 corridor south , onto historic road. poles painted white 9 feet (2.7 m) high line along 26-mile (42 km) drive. white pole road logo signs in each town give short history of town , founders.
river-to-river road
the river-to-river road (rrr) created in 1910 , connected council bluffs , davenport via des moines. route, however, traveled more northern route great white way. route passed through neola, elk horn, guthrie center, adel, des moines, newton, marengo, iowa city, , wilton. route s origins trace 1909–10 winter season brought, on average, 11 inches (28 cm) of snow more previous year, followed unusually dry spring. coupled advent of ford model t, many iowans complained lack of roads in state. governor b.f. carroll convened roads convention on march 8–9, 1910, discuss condition of roads in state. route of rrr decided among convention delegates. further influencing river-to-river corridor announcement american automobile association annual glidden tour pass through iowa. gov. carroll arranged farmers lived along route drag 380 miles (610 km) of road on saturday prior tour s arrival @ precisely 9 am. work finished in 1 hour.
when highway commission started accepting registered routes, rrr association planned register route possible. miscommunication between association members , highway commission delayed actual registration years. route became official on april 16, 1918. when primary highway system created, river-to-river road assigned primary road no. 7.
whiteway-7-highway
in 1922, whiteway-7-highway association filed application register whiteway-7-highway iowa state highway commission. commission concerned whiteway-7 s similarity great white way s name , route markings. great white way marked 6-foot-wide (1.8 m) stripe, while whiteway-7 marked 4-foot (1.2 m) stripe black circle containing white seven. concern new route since name contained number seven, route assigned along primary road nos. 2 , 7. on september 25, 1922, highway commission gave great white way des moines council bluffs, become part of whiteway-7-highway, number 7 , gave river-to-river road s western half number 2. 8 months later, iowa state highway commission reversed course , restored primary road nos. 2 , 7 original roadways. although disappointed, whiteway-7-highway association responded removing number name. on november 27, 1925, route officially became whiteway highway.
u.s. numbered highways
on november 11, 1926, members of american association of state highway officials approved plan create system of interstate highways across country. iowa s whiteway highway take on designation of us 32. four-and-a-half years, us 32 spanned chicago council bluffs. meanwhile, roosevelt highway association pushing have us 6 extended westward. on june 8, 1931, of iowa portion of us 32 absorbed newly extended us 6, had connected erie, pennsylvania, , cape cod. new us 6 replaced us 38 in nebraska , colorado. end of 1937, us 6 extended coast coast. @ time, , us 30 cross country highways bear single route number across country.
when last segment of highway between adel , des moines paved in 1931, us 6 became fourth paved road cross state. in 1940s, us 6 heavily traveled route in state. state highway commission recorded on average, on 1900 vehicles used road per day @ rural point. compares 3000 vehicles using us 6 daily in 2012.
on april 29, 1947, iowa general assembly approved act designating us 6 grand army of republic highway, distinction route shares in other states. governor robert d. blue dedicated g.a.r. highway @ old capitol on september 28, 1947. in attendance last 2 surviving iowa veterans of civil war. in 1950s, iowa state highway commission began straighten route. section of highway between grinnell , ladora straightened, resulted in brooklyn , victor being bypassed. between dexter , west des moines, us 6 swapped alignments iowa 90 in 1958. in 1961, us 6 routed onto new interstate 80 iowa 90 interchange baxter exit, exit 159. iowa 90 extended onto old us 6 alignment. however, in 1967, changes reversed , us 6 taken off i-80 , put on road had been iowa 90. iowa 90 assigned section of us 6 between s exit 106 along i-80 , exit 69 along i-35.
abandoned sections
since 1970s, portions of us 6 have been moved permanently onto i-80. first section, between us 71 , adair, rerouted in 1972. abandoned section became extended iowa 83 , cr g30 in adair county. in 1980, 3 lengthy sections moved onto interstate: 26 miles (42 km) in western iowa between adair , dexter, 25 miles (40 km) in central iowa between altoona , newton, , 20 miles (32 km) in eastern iowa between wilton , davenport. 3 sections kept state highways, in 1991, when iowa department of transportation first showed new state highways designations on state highway map, central section had been turned on polk , jasper counties. western segment numbered iowa 925 , eastern segment iowa 927.
on july 1, 2003, 15 miles (24 km) between dexter , adel turned on dallas county. us 6, had split away i-80 @ dexter exit, continued along i-80 us 169 interchange @ de soto, , along us 169 adel. former segments, iowa 925 , iowa 927, turned on respective counties well.
Comments
Post a Comment