The Iowa Transportation Commission today approved the plan for road work onthe state’s highways for next year. D-O-T spokesman Jon Ranney says bypassprojects around Spencer and New Hampton will be pushed back from theschedule due to delays.The plan calls for 430-million dollars in construction compared to380-million in the last fiscal year. Ranney says the construction willfocus on the six corridors identified by the Transportation Commission.The Iowa Transportation Commission also approved funding requests from 17Iowa airports today for a total of nearly two million dollars inimprovements. D-O-T spokesman Gary Harris says the money will fund a widerange of projects.The largest awards go to the Iowa Falls and Mt. Pleasant airports with eachreceiving over 500-thousand dollars for paving of their runways. Harris saysthe D-O-T turned down twice as many requests for funding as it received. Hesays that’s NOT an indication that the state’s airports are in bad shape.The communities have to provide local matching funds of either 10 or 20percent to qualify for the state dollars.
