The Great White Way

Iowa PBS Explores | Digital Short
Apr 27, 2020 | 5 min

Just off of I-80 between Council Bluffs and Des Moines, sits a 26 mile stretch of road with white painted telephone poles. Hundreds of them connect five communities between Adair and Dexter. While these might look like a novel roadside attraction, it is actually a historically significant part of Iowa’s highway system and it was once part of the road that connected America from coast to coast.