“I think I can sum up today in one word — finally,” Gregg told about 400 people packed into a hotel ballroom in Holstein during an Oct. 19, 2018, ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly finished highway

“To say that this day is a long time coming is an understatement,” he added.

Gregg spoke before ceremonial ribbons were snipped along the side of U.S. Highway 20 in Holstein to mark the opening of the final four-lane section in Ida and Woodbury counties that completed a widening project started in 1958.

That final section opened to traffic in October.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Bob Singer, first vice president of the U.S. 20 Corridor Association, at left, stops to talk with then-state Rep. Helen Miller, D-Fort Dodge, and Sherry Washington, right, of Fort Dodge, during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the last section of road on Oct. 19, 2018.

Gregg described it as a “glorious day for northwest Iowa.”

What ultimately made the finished highway possible, he said, was a 10-cent per gallon gasoline tax increase approved in 2015 that generated an additional $200 million a year for Iowa’s roads and bridges.

But there was also a lot of work by many people that ensured success, he said.

“We’re inspired by the passion of those of you here today and also the passion of those who played a role in this project and maybe aren’t around to see it through to completion, but you know made a big, big difference,” he said.

“Your advocacy made a difference,” he added. “And you know what, this project will make a difference, too. We’ll be able to move our goods more efficiently and get our products to the world.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
A truck moving a section of wind turbine tower drives east along the most recently completed section of U.S. Highway 20 in Holstein as the ribbon for the final section of four lane highway was cut nearby on Oct. 19, 2018.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, singled out two Fort Dodge residents, Floyd Magnusson and V. H. “Buck” Boekelman. Magnusson was a Webster County supervisor and president of the U.S. 20 Corridor Association. Boekelman was a member of the association who was known for attending every Iowa Transportation Commission meeting. Both men died before the highway expansion was completed.

“Those two folks were with us every step of the way,” King said. “They are with us in spirit today.”

Other Fort Dodge residents who played key roles in pushing for the four-lane highway were former Democratic state Rep. Helen Miller; Republican state Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink; former Democratic state senators Daryl Beall and Rod Halvorson; Bob Singer, a former Webster County supervisor and first vice president of the U.S. 20 Corridor Association; the late Ed Augustine, who led the highway effort in the 1970s and 1980s; and Steve Hoesel, a member of the association.

King also acknowledged former U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, a Republican who served the Fort Dodge area for a decade and was a key advocate for the four-lane project.

Shirley Phillips, who succeeded Magnusson as the association’s president, recounted the ups and downs the group experienced over the years.

“Either you get bitter or you get better,” she said. “It’s that simple.”

The association, she said, got better, and improved its efforts.

“Frankly, we just became more tenacious,” she said. “The one thing we didn’t do was stop. We found it hard to take no for an answer.”

She recognized association members Ann Trimble-Ray, Early Mayor Sharon Irwin and Dave Ehlers for their work.

Charese Yanney, a member of the Iowa Transportation Commission, said that a crash at the intersection of U.S. highways 20 and 59 near Holstein killed four college students on Nov. 30, 1959. She said her father, Jim Yanney, began lobbying for a four-lane U.S. Highway 20 because of that crash.

Yanney said that when she was first appointed to the Transportation Commission, she had to vote to remove the project from the state’s plans due to a lack of money. The gas tax increase solved that problem, she said.

“I’m so proud that our Republicans from northwest Iowa did vote for that gas tax because that’s what put us over the edge,” she said.

She thanked Phillips for her work.

“We wouldn’t have gotten it done if it wasn’t for you,” Yanney said.

Mark Lowe, the director of the state Department of Transportation, recited the words that no parent wants to hear while on a long car trip with their children: “Are we there yet?”

“Well, for our U.S. Highway 20 journey, we are there,” he said.

U.S. Highway 20 crosses northern Iowa between Dubuque and Sioux City.

The effort to make it four-lanes wide started in 1958, when a four-lane section opened near Moville in Woodbury County.