Road work could slow trip to holiday festivities

Many Iowans are hopping in their cars this afternoon to get the jump on a four-day weekend — and many of them will run into traffic jams. While the Iowa D-O-T has pulled work crews off many projects in anticipation of heavy traffic, other construction projects are still underway. D-O-T spokesman Jerry Dickinson says one of the big ones is just north of Des Moines.I-35 between the north mixmaster and Ankeny is being widened and there are two lanes of traffic open in each direction but work is underway along the entrance and exit ramps.You can also check the location of road work zones on Iowa highways on the Internet at “www.ctre.iastate.edu/iowaroadwork”. Dickinson says a bridge project in eastern Iowa could be causing bottlenecks too.Work on I-80 at Sugar Creek in Cedar County has traffic down to one lane in each direction. Elsewhere — in northwest Iowa, state Highway 7 west of Newell is closed. Traffic is being routed over a signed detour. In northeast Iowa, U-S Highway 20 from Iowa Highway 187 west of Manchester to Iowa Highway 38 east of Manchester is being patched and resurfaced and may be down to one lane in each direction. In southeast Iowa, work is underway on U-S Highway 61 in Fort Madison from Avenue G to County Road X-38.