The Iowa Transportation Commission today approved a five-year program to improve and maintain highways, railroads, trails and aviation in the state. Jon Ranney with the D.O.T. says the agency hopes to complete hundreds of road projects around the state.
He says the estimated state and federal money available for highway right-of-way acquisition and construction between 2011 and 2015 is $2.3 billion. The projection is based on federal highway funding at the 2009 level. Congress has not yet approved a new federal highway spending bill, so Ranney says Iowa’s five-year plan may need to be altered once the bill is passed.
The plan includes work on Interstate 29 in western Iowa and I-74 in eastern Iowa. Ranney says those modernization projects are planned in Sioux City, Council Bluffs and around Bettendorf and Davenport. Another major project involves the widening of five miles of Interstate 35 through West Des Moines from four lanes to six. Money is also targeted toward improvements to Highway 20 through Calhoun, Sac and Woodbury Counties in northwest Iowa.
See the five-year transportation improvement plan here:
www.iowadot.gov/program_management/five_year.html