Image courtesy of Iowa Department of Transportation.

You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need, a sentiment echoed by Louisa County Area Vietnam Veterans Treasurer Dick Grimm.

The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) approved Grimm’s application to place signage on Highways 61 and 92 for the All Veterans Memorial and Louisa County Freedom Rock west of Grandview.

Before Highway 61 was converted into a four-lane road there were signs directing drivers to the site at the intersection of 61 and 92. Now that the intersection is a bypass interchange federal law prohibits the DOT from putting signs where they had been previously, but Grimm shares where the future signs will be placed, “Originally what they had proposed was we were getting a sign headed east on 92. And then coming from the south going north [on 61] we were going to get a sign there, but we had nothing coming from the north to the south until we got this paperwork yesterday. And since we talked to them, and put in the paperwork, they had sent somebody out here to the site to look at it. So now we have a sign coming from both directions.”

Since it is a non-profit attraction the Iowa DOT is covering all the costs of the signs, and installation is expected early this spring.