Abbott Drive is a roadway mostly in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, United States, but passes briefly through

Carter Lake, Iowa Carter Lake is a city in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. A suburb of Omaha, Nebraska, it sits surrounding the south and west sides of the region's major airport, Eppley Airfield. It is separated from the rest of Iowa by the Missour ...

. It is the easternmost link in Omaha's Park and Boulevard System that connects the eastern edge of

Creighton University Creighton University () is a private research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate ...

and North Downtown Omaha or

NoDo Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerlin ...

to Carter Lake, Iowa,

Eppley Airfield Eppley Airfield , also known as Omaha Airport, is an airport in the midwestern United States, located northeast of downtown Omaha, Nebraska. On the west bank of the Missouri River in Douglas County, it is the largest airport in Nebraska, with ...

to John J Pershing Drive on the eastern end of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Nebraska. Considered "Omaha's gateway", the drive includes a distinctive "string of pearls" lighting feature. In Carter Lake, the section is designated as Iowa Highway 165 (Iowa 165). That section of Abbott Drive is the shortest state highway in Iowa and second-shortest in the Iowa highway system overall. Only the Iowa portion of

Interstate 129 Interstate 129 (I-129) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway which connects South Sioux City, Nebraska, to I-29 in Sioux City, Iowa. Opened in 1976, I-129 is a route, running in Nebraska. At , I-129 is the shortest highway in the state of I ...

is shorter at . Iowa 165 is entirely within the town of Carter Lake and is the only Iowa highway west of the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

Route description

Carter Lake, Iowa

Iowa 165 is the section of Omaha's Abbott Drive which passes briefly through the

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

of Carter Lake, Iowa. The route is fully signed; complete with Iowa welcome and

Adopt-a-Highway The Adopt-a-Highway program, and the very similar Sponsor-a-Highway, are promotional campaigns undertaken by U.S. states, a few provinces and territories of Canada, and some national governments outside North America to encourage volunteers to ...

signs on both ends. Abbott Drive in Omaha is not a state highway, so it does not have any state line signage. Abbott Drive in both states is included in the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

's National Highway System.

Omaha, Nebraska

Abbott Drive continues north as an unmarked divided boulevard north from Avenue G, which is the Iowa-Nebraska state line. It wraps around Carter Lake and borders

. The Arthur C. Storz Expressway branches westward, and approximately later the divided roadway ends. At North 9th Street the road becomes John J. Pershing Drive.

History

Abbott Drive was built in the 1950s, connecting the area of

downtown Omaha Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east ...

where the Union Pacific Railroad Omaha Shops Facility is with Eppley Airfield in

East Omaha East Omaha is a geographically designated community located in Omaha, Nebraska. Located three miles (5 km) from downtown Omaha, East Omaha is the site of Eppley Airfield, Omaha's main airport, and Carter Lake. This area was Omaha's first ann ...

. One of the

Kountze Kountze ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hardin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,981 at the 2020 census. The city is part of the Beaumont– Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. Kountze was originally estab ...

descendants built businesses along the drive in the 1970s, including the Easy Parking Company, which was one of the first parking companies in the United States. It moved from its early offices at the Omaha Grain Exchange and built Abbott Drive at Locust Street near Eppley Airfield in 1974. The

Freedom Park In the Philippines, a freedom park is a centrally located public space where political gatherings, rallies and demonstrations may be held without the need of prior permission from government authorities. Similar to free speech zones in the United ...

is located just off Abbott. After Eppley Airfield was built in the river bottoms to the east of Carter Lake, the shortest route from downtown Omaha to the airport was Abbott Drive which was routed through Carter Lake. Carter Lake initially maintained its section as a municipal road. In 1957, when plans were made to upgrade the airport to accommodate jet aircraft, the Iowa Department of Transportation took over the road. In the late 1990s and early 2000s a redevelopment project situated Omaha's new Qwest Convention Center, now known as

CHI Health Center Omaha CHI Health Center Omaha is an arena and convention center in the central United States, located in the North Downtown neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. Operated by the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority (MECA), the facility has a ...

, and the operational headquarters of the

Gallup Organization Gallup, Inc. is an American multinational analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Gallup provides analytics and man ...

along Abbott Drive.Larsen, L.H. (2007) ''Upstream metropolis: An urban biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs.''

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press (UNP) was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the University of Ne ...

. p 410. An extensive revitalization process led to the installation of the "string of pearls" lighting, along with other improvements. This was funded by th
Peter Kiewit Foundation

Major intersections

Notes

References

External links

{{OmahaTransport Transportation in Omaha, Nebraska Streets in Omaha, Nebraska Transportation in Pottawattamie County, Iowa

165 Year 165 ( CLXV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Orfitus and Pudens (or, less frequently, year 918 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 165 for this year ...