Abbott Drive

Abbott Drive
Length 4.7 mi[1] (7.6 km)
Location Omaha, Nebraska
Carter Lake, Iowa
South end Cuming Street & N. 10th Street
North end J.J. Pershing Drive

Abbott Drive is a roadway in Omaha, Nebraska, and Carter Lake, Iowa. It is the easternmost link in Omaha's Park and Boulevard System that connects the eastern edge of Creighton University and North Downtown Omaha or NoDo to Carter Lake, Iowa, Eppley Airfield to John J Pershing Drive on the east end of Florence, Nebraska. Considered "Omaha's gateway",[2] the drive includes a distinctive "string of pearls" lighting feature.[3]

In Carter Lake, the 0.4-mile-long (0.64 km) Iowa Highway 165 (Iowa 165) is the shortest state highway in Iowa and second-shortest in the system overall. Only the Iowa portion of Interstate 129 is shorter at 0.27 miles (0.43 km). It is totally within the town of Carter Lake, Iowa and is the only Iowa highway west of the Missouri River.

Route description

Looking south upon the Omaha area and Abbott Drive

Carter Lake, Iowa

Iowa Highway 165
Location: Carter Lake, Iowa
Length: 0.410 mi[4] (0.660 km)
Existed: 1957–present

Iowa 165 is the 0.4-mile-long (0.64 km) section of Omaha's Abbott Drive which passes through Carter Lake, Iowa. The route is fully signed; complete with Iowa welcome and Adopt-a-Highway signs on both ends. Abbott Drive in Omaha is not a state highway, so it does not have any state line signage. Abbott Drive, in Iowa and in Nebraska, is included in the Federal Highway Administration's National Highway System.[5]

Omaha, Nebraska

Abbott Drive continues north as an unmarked divided boulevard north from Avenue G, which is the Iowa-Nebraska state line. It wraps around Carter Lake and borders Eppley Airfield. The Arthur C. Storz Expressway branches westward, and approximately .5 miles later the divided roadway ends. At North 9th Street the road becomes John J. Pershing Drive.

History

Iowa 165 is the shortest state highway in Iowa

Abbott Drive was built in the 1950s, connecting the area of downtown Omaha where the Union Pacific Railroad Omaha Shops Facility is with Eppley Airfield in East Omaha. One of the Kountze descendants built businesses along the drive in the 1970s, including the Easy Parking Company, which was one of the first parking companies in the United States. It moved from its early offices at the Omaha Grain Exchange and built Abbott Drive at Locust Street near Eppley Airfield in 1974.[6] The Freedom Park is located just off Abbott.[7]

After Eppley Airfield was built in the river bottoms to the east of Carter Lake, the shortest route from downtown Omaha to the airport was Abbott Drive which was routed through Carter Lake. Carter Lake initially maintained its section as a municipal road. In 1957, when plans were made to upgrade to a jet port, the Iowa Department of Transportation took over the road.

Redevelopment

In the late 1990s and early 2000s a redevelopment project situated Omaha's new Qwest Convention Center, now known as CenturyLink Center Omaha, and the operational headquarters of the Gallup Organization along Abbott Drive.[8] An extensive revitalization process led to the installation of the "string of pearls" lighting, along with other improvements. This was funded by the Peter Kiewit Foundation.

Major intersections

StateCountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
NebraskaDouglasOmaha0.00.0Cuming Street / N. 10th StreetSouthern terminus
IowaPottawattamieCarter Lake0.81.3 Iowa 165 beginsNebraska–Iowa border
1.21.9 Iowa 165 endsNebraska–Iowa border
NebraskaDouglasOmaha1.72.7E. Locust Street
3.45.5E. Fort Street
3.76.0Arthur C. Storz Expressway
4.77.6John J. Pershing Drive / N. 9th StreetNorthern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

Route map: Bing / Google

  1. 1 2 Google (March 21, 2011). "overview of Abbott Drive" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  2. ↑ Urban Land, (2003) Volume 62. Urban Land Institute. p. xiii.
  3. ↑ Larsen, L.H. (2007) Upstream metropolis: An urban biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. University of Nebraska Press. p 407.
  4. ↑ "2009 Volume of Traffic on the Primary Road System of Iowa" (PDF). Iowa Department of Transportation. January 1, 2009. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  5. ↑ U.S. Department of Transportation (November 2003). "Omaha, NE-IA" (PDF). National Highway System. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
  6. ↑ (1975) Parking. National Parking Association. p 175.
  7. ↑ Kost, M.L. (1993) Milepost I-80: San Francisco to New York. Milepost Publications. p 137.
  8. ↑ Larsen, L.H. (2007) Upstream metropolis: An urban biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. University of Nebraska Press. p 410.
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