Iowa’s roadways will be busy this holiday weekend. Mark Bortle, with the Iowa Department of Transportation, is reminding motorists to watch out for construction zones.
“Look for those black and orange signs, read what they say, follow what they say and pay attention to your driving habits,” Bortle says. Iowa’s road construction season has been in full swing for more than two months after a mild winter and unusually warm start to spring.
Motorists can expect holiday travel to be slowed by road construction projects, including some on work on interstates. Bortle notes one of the biggest projects in the state is the reconstruction of nearly seven miles of I-380 through the southeast side of Waterloo.
Traffic is reduced to just two lanes. “We want (motorists) to pay attention through there because it is a heavy volume roadway,” Bortle said.
There are also a couple of sections of two-lane, two-way work zones on Interstate 35 south of Des Moines. And in Coralville, crews are in their final year of project to reconstruct several miles of Interstate 80. “We do have two-lanes in each direction, but they are constrained with barriers and narrow shoulders, so that is an area (motorists) need to watch out for,” Bortle said.
Fines for traffic violations are doubled in Iowa road construction zones. Motorists are advised to slow down through the work sites and plan their trip ahead of time by visiting www.511ia.org.
The website has a map and listing of all of the road construction projects across the state.