U.S. 20 to get $48 million
Funds to widen route between Moorland, EarlyBy BILL SHEA, Messenger staff writer
State transportation officials have budgeted $48 million to widen U.S. Highway 20 between Webster and Sac counties.
That decision marks another step toward the goal of making the route four-lanes wide all across the state.
Members of the Iowa Transportation Commission included the money in a Five-Year Surface Transportation Improvement Plan they approved Tuesday in Muscatine.
''We are thrilled the commission programmed more miles of four-lane U.S. 20,'' said Shirley Phillips, president of the U.S. 20 Corridor Association.
According to Phillips, the commission's decision will add 46 miles of four-lane highway in just over four years. When it is done, U.S. Highway 20 will be expanded on a new route between Moorland in Webster County and U.S. Highway 71 at Early in Sac County.
That work would be done by 2013.
The commission's decision on Tuesday wasn't a surprise because a draft version of the five-year plan released a month ago included the $48 million.
''We have been working toward this goal for decades,'' Phillips said. ''We could not be more pleased with the DOT commission's commitment to completing this long-awaited project which will provide four-lane transportation in underserved northwest Iowa.''
The additional money for the expansion is expected to come from the state's new TIME-21 fund.
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 road work money. Last spring, Gov. Chet Culver signed into law a series of transportation fee increases 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. Now, a roughly 90-mile stretch between Moorland and Moville in Woodbury County is all that remains to be widened. The work approved as part of the five-year plan would reduce that to just over 40 miles.
Some work to close the gap between Moorland and Moville is under way.
Construction crews are now doing the earthmoving for a four-lane piece between Moorland and Iowa Highway 4, just west of Rockwell City in Calhoun County. That job is to be done by the end of this year. Paving there is scheduled for 2010.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net
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firechef
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10-15-08 11:28 PM
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Yea...time to build all new exits IN the other towns along 20 and watch them get new stores, restaurants, gas stations and hotels. Do we really think travelers are going to drive miles OFF of the highway to come into Fort Dodge for services when they will be able to get of IN Rockwell City where I am sure we will see BRAND NEW stuff built? I know...we could build a aquatic center to lure travelers even further away from their route!
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jaybares
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10-15-08 7:00 AM
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Let's build the last forty milss with Revenue Bonds and set up a toll both on each end to pay them off. It could be lucrative.
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