When a road funding plan called TIME-21 became law last year, supporters of a planned four-lane U.S. Highway 20 began to hope for a fresh injection of cash to speed the project's completion.
Those hopes may become reality, thanks to plans now being discussed by state transportation officials.
The plans would invest $48 million in the U.S. Highway 20 project, completing the four-lane route between Moorland in Webster County and Early in Sac County. That work would be done by 2013.
The proposal also includes $15.4 million to make U.S. Highway 169 a safer route between Fort Dodge and Humboldt. That stretch would be upgraded in 2010 and 2011.
Dena Gray-Fisher, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, said the plans were created during talks between the Iowa Transportation Commission and department staff members. She said the proposal is just a preliminary one that has not been approved yet.
The Transportation Commission is scheduled to vote on the proposal when it meets Oct. 14.
Shirley Phillips, president of the U.S. 20 Corridor Association, called the plan ''extremely exciting for Highway 20.''
Fort Dodge Mayor Terry Lutz said that economic growth always occurs around good transportation networks. A wider Highway 20, he said, would provide another steppingstone toward future development.
''It makes us much more viable to industries,'' said John Kramer, chief executive officer of the Development Corporation of Fort Dodge and Webster County.
Local officials also praised the plans for U.S. Highway 169.
''I think it would be a great benefit to our community,'' said Humboldt Mayor Walter Jensen.
Safety improvements on that stretch have been wanted for about 15 years, he said.
''What's good for Fort Dodge is good for Humboldt and vice versa,'' Lutz said. ''I think it will be great to get that thing fixed up so we can move people back and forth in a safer way.''
TIME-21, which stands for Transportation Investment Moves the Economy in the 21st Century, was approved in 2007 to address a potential $200 million shortfall in money for road work. Last spring, a series of transportation-related fee increases were signed into law by Gov. Chet Culver to provide the money for TIME-21.
The effort to widen U.S. Highway 20 to four lanes all the way from Dubuque to Sioux City began about 40 years ago, long before TIME-21 was envisioned. Now a roughly 90 mile stretch between Moorland and Moville in Woodbury County is all that remains to be widened. The cost to complete that section has been estimated at $500 million.
Construction crews are now doing the earthmoving for a four-lane section between Moorland and Iowa Highway 4, just west of Rockwell City in Calhoun County. That work is to be done by the end of this year and paving is to be completed in 2010.
The planned improvements for U.S. Highway 169 include turning lanes at intersections and paved shoulders along the side of the road, according to Tony Gustafson, an assistant district engineer for the state Department of Transportation.
He said a one-mile section of the highway just south of Humboldt will be rebuilt ''to make a smoother and flatter roadway.''
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net
