EAST
and 
SOUTH
EAST End of 9: Wisconsin state line, Lansing, Allamakee County IA/Crawford County WI
SOUTH End of 26: T intersection, IA 9, Allamakee County
LEFT: Overview of Lansing, showing streets and RR tracks east of 9 and 26; RIGHT: Closeup of intersection
Technically, highways 9 and 26 do not end at the same place. In actuality, they're pretty darn close. The arrows in the graphic on the right indicate the direction of that picture. Working counterclockwise from eleven o'clock:
1) Facing south on 26
As with the rest of the Great River Road, little "America's Byways" signs have been added recently, so Jason's "End" picture below looks a little different.
2) Facing south on 26
Photo by Jason Hancock
The sign to the left of the "End 26" is below at picture 5. The "End" sign should be just above the 26 since the Great River Road continues.
3) Facing southeast
This was the best angle I could get to show how close the ends of the two highways are.
4) Facing south, but heading west, on 9
This picture, after the intersection, shows IA 9's first county road junction and an old Standard sign. Above the white car at left is the assembly seen below.
5) Facing north, but heading east, on 9
Photo by Jason Hancock
6) Facing north, but heading east, on 9
This assembly has a little problem - it doesn't have a right arrow under the 9. The Great River Road sign would optimally be under the 26 with a single arrow for both. Notice that the Great River Road sign is smaller than the regular shields.
7a) Facing east on 9
They certainly don't build bridges like this anymore - lots of superstructure, narrow lanes, steel deck, two sharp angles in the roadbed.
7b) Closeup of signs at right
Photo by Jason Hancock
This sign is closer to its end than IA 2's is, because 2's is placed at the intersection before the bridge. Just north of here, the state border swings across the wide Mississippi to come a little closer to Iowa, at this point being in the actual middle of the river. This set of signs is 700 feet east of the intersection, or 2 1/3 football fields away. It is 2.7 miles to WI 35, on the other side of the river.
7c) Closeup of sign at far right
Photo by Jason Hancock
Since the bridge was closed, for 12 years the end of 9 was quite literally right here. The next bridge north is US 14/old US 16/US 61 at La Crosse. The next bridge south is US 18 at Marquette.
Facing south (view of bridge)
Photo by Jason Hancock
Facing southeast
This picture, one of many of Iowa bridges currently in the Library of Congress archives, was taken in 1995. The road at the bottom of the picture is IA 26; the "End 26" is in the bottom right corner.
Facing west on WI 82
In the 1999 film The Straight Story, there is a scene of Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) crossing this bridge on his way from Laurens, Iowa, into Wisconsin on a lawn mower to see his brother. It's a wonderful scene, including an aerial shot to showcase the beauty of both the bridge and the surrounding area. There's just one problem: He's filmed going the wrong way. The mower is shown crossing from Wisconsin into Iowa; the "Mississippi River" sign at right gets its own closeup. (If it had been filmed the correct way, Straight would have seen the "End 9" as he turned right to get on the bridge.)
8) Facing west on 9
Photo by Jason Hancock
5) Jason says, "This clutter of signs is posted once you get off the bridge." And it holds a lot of what you get entering and in Iowa: the state welcome sign, county sign, city limit sign, scenic byway, Great River Road, and then the LGS and standard shields. The setup had changed slightly four years later:
8) Facing west on 9 (washout at top due to late-afternoon sun)
Facing west on 9
It's a long way across the state to Estherville, the next town above 5,000 after Decorah. (Funny enough, though, I would be in Estherville the next day.) Signs on 9 between Decorah and Estherville use those cities as the third destination. The halfway point between the cities is four miles east of Hanlontown, or three miles east of I-35/IA 27.
Pictures by Jason Hancock: Second, fifth, eighth-tenth, and thirteenth, 7/14/02
Pictures by me: First, third, fourth, sixth, seventh, twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, 9/7/06
Page created 2/4/03; last updated 11/29/06