The Iowa Transportation Commission approved a 374-million-dollar road construction plan for 2007 today (Tuesday) with some shuffling of projects. Department of Transportation Planner John Ranney says three things altered the budget for the plan.
Ranney says declining federal revenue of 12-million dollars, 38-point-five million dollars in projects already pushed back from last year, and increasing construction costs in the amount of 68-million dollars. He says that increased the cost of the 2007 plan by 118 million dollars.
Ranney says contractors face a problem familiar to everyone in rising construction costs. He says fuel costs are a significant portion of the construction costs, and the higher petroleum prices upped the cost of construction.
Ranney says they shuffled around some projects to make up for the increase costs. Ranney says 24 projects, mostly bridge repair and pavement preservation, will be delayed.
Ranney says several projects will get done in 2007, including completing the Iowa 60 corridor in northwest Iowa in 2007, Des Moines to Burlington corridor in 2008, Interstate 235 in Des Moines in 2007. It targets 154 million for the interstates, 90-million for pavement preservation, 35 million for bridge projects, and 15 million dollars for safety projects.
Ranney says the projects are evaluated each month and if costs change, the plans can be altered. To see the 2007 construction plan, surf to the Iowa D-O-T’s website at the link below.
Related web sites:
More info on D-O-T road plan