Wikipedia:Peer review/U.S. Route 30 in Iowa/archive1

U.S. Route 30 in Iowa

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because I would like to take this article to WP:FAC. I've been looking at this article for seven months, I'm certain there is something that's obvious to someone else that I can't see. So, I would like a few more sets of eyes read over it to help it become a better article.

Thanks, –Fredddie™ 23:13, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Finetooth comments: This is broad in coverage, generally clear, and nicely illustrated. I have a fair number of suggestions, most of them related to prose, Manual of Style issues, and layout.

Lead

• "the first transcontinental highway in the United States" - I don't think you need to link United States here since you've already linked U.S. state. Y

Route description

• The first paragraph needs a source. A good rule of thumb is to provide a source or sources for not only every direct quotation, every set of statistics, and every unusual claim, but also every paragraph. If one source covers a whole paragraph, the citation can go right after the terminal period of the last sentence of the paragraph. Y

• "Small towns are dotted along the entire route, connecting the larger cities and towns of Denison, Ames, Cedar Rapids, and Clinton." - Maybe "which connects" rather than "connecting" to avoid suggesting that the small towns do the connecting. Y

Western Iowa

• "For seventeen miles (27 km)" - Numbers bigger than nine are usually written as digits unless they start a sentence. Shouldn't this be 17 miles (27 km)? Y

Central Iowa

• "which is 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km)" - I'd recommend expressing all the fractions in the article as decimal fractions. This one, for example, would become 1.5 miles (2.4 km).
  • For imperial measurements, the MOS allows for fractions so long as they're consistent. As a matter of personal preference, I think fractions allow a sense of fuzzy math that decimals do not allow; 1.25 seems overly precise compared to 1+1⁄4 despite their equivalence. In the route description, distances don't have to be exactly precise, because precise measurements are given in the junction list below. –Fredddie™

• "From the interchanges to the Story County line 1.738 miles (2.797 km) away" - The level of precision here seems odd in light of the rounding to whole numbers or tenths elsewhere. I think "about 1.7 miles (2.8 km)" would be better.
  • Keeping the fractions consistent, I changed it to 1+3⁄4 miles. –Fredddie™

• "Continuing east, it travels 6+1⁄2 miles (10 km)" - "It" seems ambiguous here. Y

• "One-half mile (0.8 km) east of the casino, US 30 becomes a two-lane road, a configuration which it stays for the next 30 miles (48 km)." - "Keeps" rather than "stays"? Y

• "It turns east again by a roadside park, on the south side of which is the famous Lincoln Highway bridge." - Delete "famous"? It's an editorial judgment and slightly peacockish.
  • Rather than famous, I called it Tama's Lincoln Highway bridge. –Fredddie™

Eastern Iowa

• "3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) southwest of Newhall" - Sentences in Wikipedia articles use words rather than digits to start sentences. Y

• "US 30 / US 67 head east along Lincoln Way" - The front slash may have some special highway meaning; I'm not sure. It's usually best to replace front slashes with something more specific such as "and". Ditto for other front slashes in the article.
  • The forward slash, in highway articles, means the two routes are a concurrency and they're traveling as one. –Fredddie™

History

• The first paragraph needs a source or sources. Y

Lincoln Highway

• "the only certainty being the route would pass through Iowa" - Maybe "the only certainty was" rather than "the only certainty being"? Y

• "The ribbon of concrete, which was 16-foot (4.9 m) wide, 7+1⁄2-inch (19 cm) thick" - Plurals (feet, inches)? Y

• "cost $34,936.81" - Round to "about $35,000" for ease of reading? Y

1960s–1980s

• "In the 1960–1970s, freeway segments along US 30 started to emerge." - "Emerge" might not be the right word. Even though passive, "to be built" might be better. Y

Legacy of the Lincoln Highway

• "In 1992, the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) was reformed with a chapter in each state through which it passed." - The association didn't pass through any states. Maybe "the highway" instead of "it"? Y

Layout

• On my computer screen, File:Lincoln Highway Bridge, Tama, IA.jpg overlaps two sections and displaces an edit button. You could fix this by moving the image up a paragraph or two. Y

• File:US 30 Iowa 1926.svg also overlaps sections and displaces an edit button. This is a little tougher to fix because the "1930s–1950s" section is so short. You might have to shrink it further or move it elsewhere or perhaps merge two subsections to make a bigger subsection. Y

Images

• The image licenses all look OK to me except that the license for File:US 30 Iowa 1926.svg says that "It was first published in 1926, making it public domain due to age anyway." I don't believe this is true. It would be true if the image had first been published before 1923. Since the image is in the public domain by virtue of having been published in the MUTCD, it's not necessary to add the 1926 claim. I'd recommend deleting the 1926 sentence from the license page.
• I didn't make the image, but I will do that. –Fredddie™ Y

Sources

• What makes the Iowa Lincoln Highway Association a reliable source per WP:RS? The link goes to what appears to be a personal web site.
  • The Iowa LHA is a state office of a national organization whose members pay dues and elect officers. I will admit, the Iowa organization's website is an amateur hack job. But it's not a personal website. –Fredddie™

Overlinking

• I'm not sure it's necessary to link town names like Ogden and Tama more than once in the lead and once in the main text. Ditto for counties and highways. Too many repetitive links devalue the other links because readers stop paying attention to them. Ames and Iowa State University are both linked twice in the "Central Iowa" section. I'd recommend deleting these redundancies and looking for others.
  • I don't have access to AWB, but I will ask someone who does to check for overlinking on my behalf. –Fredddie™

I hope these suggestions prove helpful. If so, please consider reviewing another article, especially one from the PR backlog at WP:PR; that is where I found this one. I don't usually watch the PR archives or check corrections or changes. If my comments are unclear, please ping me on my talk page. Finetooth (talk) 03:46, 16 November 2010 (UTC)