The Iowa Department of Transportation has a new section on its website that features "Historic Auto Trails." DOT spokesperson, Dena Gray-Fisher, says the trails were the routes people traveled long before today’s four-lane interstates.
Gray-Fisher says they were paths, many of them gravel, that took people through Iowa from 1911 to 1925. She says the trails each had a unique signature.She says they had names and their owns signs, and were diversions. Gray-Fisher compares them to the famous Route 66 with their souvenirs and campgrounds.
Gray-Fisher says the trails and their special markings disappeared with progress. Gray-Fisher says federal and state officials developed the highway numbering system in 1926 and the trail names disappeared. Gray-Fisher says the section on the website gives you a glimpse into the once popular trails. She says it has information about the route, as well as some history and background on the trails.