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Salutes legislators for vote

To the editor:

With a bipartisan effort on Feb. 24, legislators in both houses passed a necessary user fee increase to improve the roads and bridges in Iowa. The following day Gov. Branstad signed it into law. The legislators voting for this bill showed leadership as they accepted input from their constituents and fellow lawmakers and evaluated the current infrastructure critical needs of our state.

We commend the following U.S. 20 corridor legislators for “stepping up to the plate” and not “kicking the can down the road” for future generations to deal with: Sen. Bill Anderson, Sen. Rick Bertrand, Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, Sen. Mark Segebart, Sen. Jeff Danielson, Sen. William Dotzler, and Sen. Pam Jochum; Rep. Dan Huseman, Rep. Mike Sexton and Rep. Gary Worthan. Others from northwest Iowa supporting this issue were Sen. David Johnson, Rep. Megan Johnson and Rep. John Wills.

Those legislators along the U.S. 20 route know that this 50-plus-year-old project needs to be completed for the economic benefit to all of Iowa. With just 30.5 miles left to program and build, this east-west four lane route will alleviate traffic on I-80, provide an alternative to moving our raw materials and finished products across the state, and provides the largest land quadrant in Iowa not served with a four-lane roadway with the opportunity to grow and prosper. There are currently economic development projects being planned along the last segment so the sooner this project is complete, the better for all of us.

Already the cities and counties are planning additional road and bridge projects with the added revenue from the user fee increase and the average taxpayer won’t continue to be burdened with bond issues for these repairs. Increasing the user fee was by the far the most fair and effective way to raise the additional funding needed for vital infrastructure repair.

Again we thank the above legislators for voting in favor of a user fee and for recognizing the benefits that the Iowa taxpayers will gain from these additional revenues.

Shirley Phillips

President

U.S. 20 Association

Sac City

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