Beautifying Iowa, One Vision At A Time

"It may not be as glamorous as the huge, new community attractions efforts popping up around Iowa, but there is a program that's been working for years to help change the look of more than 100 small towns across the state.

Under Iowa's Living Roadways Community Visioning Program, small towns get help beautifying their city. Help that can include things like adding splashy new entrance signs, tiny roadside parks that dot main drags, recreational trails and prairie and tree plantings along main roadways.

'It has had a big impact on recreational opportunities, and safety, and pride of place,' said Julia Badenhope, an Iowa State University landscape and architecture professor who came up with the program about a decade ago."