Funding to make the final stretch of U.S. Highway 20 in northwest Iowa into 4 lanes was approved by the Iowa Transportation Commission at their meeting this week in Council Bluffs. The panel voted to spend more than $286 million to wrap up the long-running project.
Shirley Phillips, president of the Highway 20 Association, is thrilled with the decision to finish expanding the roadway from two lanes to four statewide. “The commission was wholeheartedly supportive of completing Highway 20,” Phillips says. “We only have 30.5 miles to go in Sac, Ida and Woodbury counties. This project’s been going on for well over 50 years so it’s time to complete it.”
The work that remains includes 11 miles in Sac County, 12 miles in Woodbury County and 17 miles in Ida County. “Work is going on on every phase of that 30 miles right now from soil sampling to grading,” Phillips says. “They’re working between Moville and Correctionville. If the weather would cooperate and quit raining, we’d have it done faster, but we’re hoping to have it all completed by 2018.”
Phillips, of Sac City, says ribbon-cuttings to mark each segment’s completion will only slow down the process, so they’re planning for a major celebration when the project is finally finished.
(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)