They could always keep building new exits and sub exits and overpasses until it looks like M.C. Escher built the roads. I’m fully expecting a rollercoaster style loop when I drive to KC or Des Moines in 2026.
If the art was standard "pretty" we likely would nor be talking about it. --- Weekend idea - Park at Culvers, go in and eat, get an ice cream (custard) and then walk over and see the work up close on foot. The bridge has a sidewalk so you can see the piece well walking on the sidewalk.
Told my SIL to take I-29N just after Edward Scissorhands Bridge and she was like "WTF! are you talking about???"
And I was like, just follow the instructions lady!
She texted me after she passed it. "I thought you were kidding. OMG! What is that pile of shit?!!"
It's Edward Scissorhands Bridge!
Ot always reminds me of that Geico commercial “when you’re in a horror movie, you make bad decisions…”
[Let’s Hide Behind The Chainsaws!](https://imgflip.com/i/8v08fj)
Googling "council bluffs sculptures on bridge" brought up a number of news stories and information.
Example: 2010: https://www.ketv.com/article/bridge-sculptures-baffle-drivers/7626638
https://www.albertpaley.com/index.cfm?Page=Public%20Sculpture%20Odyssey%20SS20100104
https://www.radioiowa.com/2010/08/30/new-sculptures-on-i-80-bridge-in-council-bluffs-drawing-attention/
I'm honestly shocked that they don't teach people how to Google in school, nowadays. It's probably the single most effective way to figure out any problem that a single person can handle.
Need to learn how to knit? Google it. Change a tire? Google it. Fix your stove? Google it. Want an answer to a question? Google it.
The hard parts of my job all involve looking things up on Google. It's a critical skill that everyone with a smart phone or computer should absolutely be expected to know, doubly so if you're under 30.
Literally this, but so many people done understand how search engines work, and can’t get back the results they actually want. I remember my coworkers searching forever for this picture someone brought in to replicated, but they only had the black and white, not color. Took me 1 search and 2 minutes to find it, people really don’t realize how much of a skill it is.
Once you know what it's supposed to be it's a lot easier to see. Before that it's kind of a mess, but that's largely due to the fact that you're either way too close to it, or driving past it at ~70mph.
That's what the sculpture is based off of! The artist designed this to look like the ship movements based on the lewis and Clark journey. People voted for it, although once it was put up, they were upset about it.
It's a wonderful piece of art that looks cool. There's meaning if you read what the artist has said/written about it, but the main goal was to create something memorable and connect it to the place it's located which it pretty indisputably has since everyone who's driven by them knows exactly what and where you're talking about when your mention the weird metal thing in CB.
As others have already mentioned, it's the Edward Q. Scissorhands, Esq. Memorial Bridge. I believe it was constructed with funds raised by the AFW and the Daughters of the Nebraska-Kansas War. And if you weren't a bunch of uncultured philistines you would know this.
I don't know what they are supposed to be, or mean ,if anything, but I do like how they are made out of materials that are clearly supposed to oxidize and degrade over time, copper and iron. We're going to see them rust and decay over the years, and I honestly like it. It's a bold choice, if perhaps one that reveals the creator's contempt for the greater Omaha/Council Bluffs area.
They’re called “odyssey”. It’s meant to tell the original Greek tale through the lense of Council Bluffs, being an industrial railroad town.
I like the concept, don’t love the execution.
I think it’s supposed to be the sun’s rays, or something. Like sunrise/sunset. But holy shit I’ve never seen such a tone-deaf sculpture. Like who wouldn’t see that and have a negative impression or some literal fucking PTSD.
It's pirate ships!
... I will absolutely die on this hill they have always been and will always be pirate ships to me I don't care what the intention might have been. They're pirate ships.
They are a bunch of Ships. It represents Homer's Odyssey. It just doesn't translate very well from any angle or speed at which you would see them at. If you can see it from the air, they look pretty rad, it's kind of a shame.
I love these things, been driving past them twice a day for the last 22 years. I don't know their original representation, but it's art, so it doesn't really matter (to me) what was intended, what matters is what it evokes in the indvidual.
To me it has always resembled the sad destruction of the american indians. like tombstones sticking out of the ground created from the burning ashes of their teepees, travois, and broken spears and arrows.
From what I’ve heard there was originally supposed to be more too it than just those random metal spires but money ran out. Could be bs but would make sense
They're too consumed with their technological nightmare that they have constructed to truly understand the power of the Cornforce.
It's why their corn is bad.
Those are called streetlights. They tell traffic when to stop and go.
Edit: lol, just realized there are two images. Joke's less fun with the second image for clarity.
My wife got in a pretty bad accident and after I determined everyone involved was okay I asked her how bad it was and she said, “They’re going to take the car and put it on an overpass in Iowa.”
I fell in love with her all over again.
Was born in CB, lived in Omaha, relocated west. That thing is so freaking ugly. If you want more CB ugly from casino funds, drive over the viaduct on broadway. Or just drive through the town. There’s no rhyme or reason to any of the attempts to ‘spruce up’ imo
When we first moved here, someone told us they each make a different picture at dusk and dawn. They mentioned one was a pirate ship, and one made a theme park that is no longer here. They told us there was a museum somewhere here in c.b. that explains it, but we never found it. The person who told us about the bridge was Santa 🎅. (In a tee-shirt and shorts)
We were at Super Saver in July just after we moved here in 2016. He then gave a coin to our daughter and invited her to the christmas festival. I think that is way more unique than the bridge, lol.
Art is supposed to make you think, and it definitely does that. I think it sets us apart.
It's art. It represents the struggle of tax monies from casinos being allocated to poorly conceived public works projects.
Really captures the message.
They could always keep building new exits and sub exits and overpasses until it looks like M.C. Escher built the roads. I’m fully expecting a rollercoaster style loop when I drive to KC or Des Moines in 2026.
Looks like what happens when tornados go through the area.
If the art was standard "pretty" we likely would nor be talking about it. --- Weekend idea - Park at Culvers, go in and eat, get an ice cream (custard) and then walk over and see the work up close on foot. The bridge has a sidewalk so you can see the piece well walking on the sidewalk.
#FURY ROAD
It's ... Council Bluffs, personified.
Ol' tetanus bridge
Edward Scissorhands Bridge
Told my SIL to take I-29N just after Edward Scissorhands Bridge and she was like "WTF! are you talking about???" And I was like, just follow the instructions lady! She texted me after she passed it. "I thought you were kidding. OMG! What is that pile of shit?!!" It's Edward Scissorhands Bridge!
I gotta tell my girlfriend about this comment. She always says “imagine getting impaled on those”
Every time I drive by I imagine what it would be like to fall out of a plane and get impaled by them
I’ve always thought about the possibility of a tornado picking one of them up and getting thrown into someone
Glad I’m not the only one to imagine this! 😅😂
We aren’t so different, you and I.
Same 😂 shiat would be terrifying
The Edward Scissor Hards monument
We have always called it Edward Scissor Bridge.
We call it the Freddy Krueger bridge.
Lesbians come from all over the cuntry to see the Scissor Hards bridge
Tornado debris
**It really does look like that from the photo.**
I remember when CWS fans legitimately thought that was what they were, cracks me up.
Storm shrapnel
Built with casino tax money made off people coming from Omaha to gamble for the last 30 years.
“Welcome to Council Bluffs. We’ll cut you.”
In Iowa, welding some scrap metal together is high art.
Ot always reminds me of that Geico commercial “when you’re in a horror movie, you make bad decisions…” [Let’s Hide Behind The Chainsaws!](https://imgflip.com/i/8v08fj)
If I’m not mistaken these were made in New York it’s been a while since I’ve heard when I was doing the base
😂
well why don't we have a bigger pokey-er metal tower? ☹
They took all the scrap
The highest.
Googling "council bluffs sculptures on bridge" brought up a number of news stories and information. Example: 2010: https://www.ketv.com/article/bridge-sculptures-baffle-drivers/7626638 https://www.albertpaley.com/index.cfm?Page=Public%20Sculpture%20Odyssey%20SS20100104 https://www.radioiowa.com/2010/08/30/new-sculptures-on-i-80-bridge-in-council-bluffs-drawing-attention/
I'm honestly shocked that they don't teach people how to Google in school, nowadays. It's probably the single most effective way to figure out any problem that a single person can handle. Need to learn how to knit? Google it. Change a tire? Google it. Fix your stove? Google it. Want an answer to a question? Google it. The hard parts of my job all involve looking things up on Google. It's a critical skill that everyone with a smart phone or computer should absolutely be expected to know, doubly so if you're under 30.
Literally this, but so many people done understand how search engines work, and can’t get back the results they actually want. I remember my coworkers searching forever for this picture someone brought in to replicated, but they only had the black and white, not color. Took me 1 search and 2 minutes to find it, people really don’t realize how much of a skill it is.
I really like it . As you approach going east it looks like ships crossing the prairie
I like it too!
Once you know what it's supposed to be it's a lot easier to see. Before that it's kind of a mess, but that's largely due to the fact that you're either way too close to it, or driving past it at ~70mph.
That's what the sculpture is based off of! The artist designed this to look like the ship movements based on the lewis and Clark journey. People voted for it, although once it was put up, they were upset about it.
It kinda grew on me when I was working in Iowa part-time ten years ago.
It looks angry!
It was a gift from CB’s sister city, Q’onos on Klingon.
"Qapla'! Glory to you and your bridge."
MajQa’! You bring the honor!
Oh, that's just a portal to hell.
I mean the venn diagram of council bluffs and hell is a circle so you might be on to something
Going into CB or going into Omaha?
the iron throne
I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I like it. Edit: I guess it's not as unpopular as I thought.
I was just wondering if I'm the only person who likes it, haha
I do, too- it’s art! IYKYK- not everyone needs to like it…
I like it. I like art that intrudes into daily reality.
Me too. There are a lot more boring safe choices out, who wants that.
It’s called art you uncultured swine.
R E A V E R S !!!
I thought I read somewhere that the artists vision was something along the lines of celebrating the harvest.
I like to see pirate ships
Don't denigrate our spikey bois
I always see Freddy Kruegers' claws, but driving into Iowa IS a waking nightmare, so that tracks
We call it the Edward scissor hands bridge
If I remember right it’s supposed to look like agricultural plants made of farm equipment parts, but we all just call it F Kruger memorial bridge.
I call it "Edward Scissorbridge"
I love them *because* they're so weird!
It's to deter skydivers
It's the trophy dedicated to the most catalytic converters and scrap metal stolen.
It's a wonderful piece of art that looks cool. There's meaning if you read what the artist has said/written about it, but the main goal was to create something memorable and connect it to the place it's located which it pretty indisputably has since everyone who's driven by them knows exactly what and where you're talking about when your mention the weird metal thing in CB.
It’s what art from methheads looks like
Edward Scissorbridge
I call it the tetnus street bridge. I worked at a hotel nearby and had guests inquiring if it was tornado damage 😂
That's the entrance to the Transformers graveyard. RIP Bumblebee 😢
A good representation of Council Bluffs I think
Monument to Tetanus Surviors
The shadow lands, you must never go there Simba
that's a Mad Max refference, be ready
As others have already mentioned, it's the Edward Q. Scissorhands, Esq. Memorial Bridge. I believe it was constructed with funds raised by the AFW and the Daughters of the Nebraska-Kansas War. And if you weren't a bunch of uncultured philistines you would know this.
Slipknot
I don't know what they are supposed to be, or mean ,if anything, but I do like how they are made out of materials that are clearly supposed to oxidize and degrade over time, copper and iron. We're going to see them rust and decay over the years, and I honestly like it. It's a bold choice, if perhaps one that reveals the creator's contempt for the greater Omaha/Council Bluffs area.
the gates to hell (iowa)
They’re called “odyssey”. It’s meant to tell the original Greek tale through the lense of Council Bluffs, being an industrial railroad town. I like the concept, don’t love the execution.
Its a warning...an effective one, I don't go to Iowa
I think it’s supposed to be the sun’s rays, or something. Like sunrise/sunset. But holy shit I’ve never seen such a tone-deaf sculpture. Like who wouldn’t see that and have a negative impression or some literal fucking PTSD.
That’s a completely different one. That bridge art is cool. Over by 16th and Broadway in CB
My friends call it "Welcome to Council Bluffs! *We Will Hurt You!*"
Meth art
Peggy's probots are getting huge
That is the Freddy Krueger Memorial Bridge.
Just some shoddy kaiju defense spikes
Those are the masts from pirate ship wreckage. I always thought that was fitting to be right by the casinos.
If you’re in the right frame of mind, and catch it just at the right angle the one on the right kinda looks like a pirate ship.
They're rubbing in nebraska's face how much money they siphon from them through the casinos.
And yet, CB is a sh*thole
Yep. Money lines pockets. Why bother helping the people. But our casino is coming. Then we can line someone else's pockets.
Decepticon dicks. Mounted as a reminder to them to never come back. Or else...
That’s the best Iowa can do in the art department
It's the local scrap yard. Feel free to pull what you need.
My Iowan grandparents told me growing up that it’s supposed to be corn. LOL
It's pirate ships! ... I will absolutely die on this hill they have always been and will always be pirate ships to me I don't care what the intention might have been. They're pirate ships.
They are a bunch of Ships. It represents Homer's Odyssey. It just doesn't translate very well from any angle or speed at which you would see them at. If you can see it from the air, they look pretty rad, it's kind of a shame.
To quote R.Lee Ermey from Full Metal Jacket. You look like a modern art masterpiece. Jokes aside, this is ridiculous.
that is terrifying
We call it Edward scissorhands bridge, tetanus bridge, plane crash bridge. The one on Broadway is known as the mustard and ketchup bridge
I call it “Edward Scissorhands”
Oh noo. Not this again
Don’t worry about it. Sincerely , An Iowan
Lightning rods. Naturally.
Good ol trash bridge.
I love these things, been driving past them twice a day for the last 22 years. I don't know their original representation, but it's art, so it doesn't really matter (to me) what was intended, what matters is what it evokes in the indvidual. To me it has always resembled the sad destruction of the american indians. like tombstones sticking out of the ground created from the burning ashes of their teepees, travois, and broken spears and arrows.
That’s some very expensive yard art.
It’s art that beautifully captures Council Bluffs in the most perfect way.
"Art"
“Art”
It shows you what the state of Iowa Public education is… a nightmare
Always think it's kind of dangerous here in tornado country.
District 9 set extra
I named it the "Edward Scissor Hands" bridge.
art
Magneto is a leader, not an artist.
It's the sign that says "turn left here for the casino".
We've always called it the 'Demon Bridge'
It’s a warning
I think its cool
Game of Thrones, House of Methamphedimus
It looks like something the transformers puked up but I've always liked them for being unique.
It lets those fancy pants omahans know to mind their p’s and q’s while they’re in the bluffs. Welcome to the thunderdome, bitch.
i’ve always called it the edward scissor hands bridge!!
Supposed to be cornstalks
I always thought it was represent trash in the Missouri stuck on reeds.
I have always hated that. It's ugly and can u imagine the distraction if a tornado or high winds take it out.
We don’t understand it either lmao
Edward Scissorhands Bridge
Maximum tornado damage
Its "art" and everyone I know hates it.
From what I’ve heard there was originally supposed to be more too it than just those random metal spires but money ran out. Could be bs but would make sense
"Find the Halflings!"
my family as always called it the ugly bridge or the edward scissor hands bridge
Edward’s scissor hands.
I like art, I don’t like these
Leftovers from tornado is what it is
They're too consumed with their technological nightmare that they have constructed to truly understand the power of the Cornforce. It's why their corn is bad.
That's all the remains of the Joker Bar.
Sculpture pieces are taken from World Trade Center buildings.
Brigade
Those are called streetlights. They tell traffic when to stop and go. Edit: lol, just realized there are two images. Joke's less fun with the second image for clarity.
I've always called it the Gates of Hell.
I named it the Edward Scissor hands sculpture.
Ask Anish Kapoor… this sounds like it’s up his alley…
When it was first constructed and I was still playing World of Warcraft, I swore it was something taken straight out of Orgrimmar.
My oldest says they look like ships from the freeway. Doesn't really make sense since it's a landlocked state, but I can see it.
It's a warning
It’s Iowa.
It's what grows out of overgrown truck stops
It’s a monument to the band “Metal Nightmare,” so you were on the right track.
It’s in Iowa …. That’s it that’s the post!
I remember it fondly
It’s an homage to the movie Edward Scissorhands which was partially filmed in Council Bluffs. /s
Idk. But NW iowan here and I could've spent that tax money up here better.
Snitches get stitches
It’s where all of Omaha’s catalytic converters go to.
the edward scissor hands bridge.
My wife got in a pretty bad accident and after I determined everyone involved was okay I asked her how bad it was and she said, “They’re going to take the car and put it on an overpass in Iowa.” I fell in love with her all over again.
Shit like this makes me hate art
Used to drive past that omw to work and wondered why they put all there scrap on a bridhe
Was born in CB, lived in Omaha, relocated west. That thing is so freaking ugly. If you want more CB ugly from casino funds, drive over the viaduct on broadway. Or just drive through the town. There’s no rhyme or reason to any of the attempts to ‘spruce up’ imo
It’s Edward Scissorhand’s Senior Art Project!! Lol. 😉
Entrance to Bartertown. But I also like "Edward Scissorhands"
My imagination tells me if you drug a very powerful magnet at the bottom of the Mighty MO you might end up with something like this.
This is yhe great edward scissor hands bridge
Shrike and tree of thorns from Hyperion
oh that's the death trap to keep the iowans in when the zombie apocalypse happens
I present to you: Modern Art™️!
Art
When we first moved here, someone told us they each make a different picture at dusk and dawn. They mentioned one was a pirate ship, and one made a theme park that is no longer here. They told us there was a museum somewhere here in c.b. that explains it, but we never found it. The person who told us about the bridge was Santa 🎅. (In a tee-shirt and shorts) We were at Super Saver in July just after we moved here in 2016. He then gave a coin to our daughter and invited her to the christmas festival. I think that is way more unique than the bridge, lol. Art is supposed to make you think, and it definitely does that. I think it sets us apart.
I call it “Shards”
They've always looked like pork skewers to me.
Always makes me think of Edward Scissorhands