Amazing 1959 film of Iowa’s US 30 (2010, lane, gas, highway)

[round tuit]

YOU WILL LOVE this video of central Iowa’s US 30, filmed in 1959 to show congestion and the need for road improvements. Highway Relocations was created by the Iowa State Highway Commission (ISHC), now IDOT, to show the downside of gas stations, rest stops, and the skinny two-lanes they populate. Filming started just east of State Center at the junction of Iowa 64 (now Iowa 330) and US 30 (the Lincoln Highway) and continued west along US 30 through State Center, Colo, Nevada, and Ames, ending just west of Boone. The film is 16 minutes long and covers 55 miles. {Note: Please read the comments for more info on the cars and the year it was filmed.]
Amazing 1959 film of Iowa’s US 30 « Lincoln Highway News

[mustang84]

I take Highway 30 often and many of the issues they describe are still issues 50 years later. They did relocate portions of the highway to bypass many of the towns described, and much of it is now four lane divided highway, but there are still areas that are two lane and make passing dangerous with the amount of traffic. I have almost witnessed two head-on collisions while driving that road, and another time passed someone that had swerved into the ditch to avoid a collision. They are saying by 2020 that all of Highway 30 through Iowa will finally be a four lane divided highway...it needed to happen yesterday.