On December 1, 1917, the Iowa Highway Commission officially approved the “Blue Grass Road,” a 300-mile route stretching from Council Bluffs to Burlington. This highway linked county seats across southern Iowa and became one of the state’s iconic early driving routes. The effort to establish the route began in October 1910, when local residents organized to map and promote a continuous dirt road through the region. During that period, the Iowa Blue Grass Association was formed, and soon after, representatives from counties along the proposed route conducted a formal inspection trip to refine the plan.
Throughout the 1910s, the route shifted slightly as Iowa transitioned from locally driven road planning to a more standardized statewide approach. As one of Iowa’s earliest designated auto routes, the Iowa Blue Grass Road Association quickly submitted the required $5 fee to begin the approval process following the passage of the 1913 Road Law. Hoping to earn the distinction of becoming Iowa’s first officially registered auto route, the group described its mission as “an organization for the purpose of maintaining a model dirt road across the state of Iowa through the heart of the Blue Grass Belt and giving encouragement to the ‘Good Roads’ cause in general.”…