Ames, Iowa — If you’ve hit some rough stretches on state highways, you are not alone.
The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved amending its budget to spend 15 million dollars on weather repairs. The DOT’s Stuart Anderson says there’s been an above-normal number of freeze-thaw cycles this winter that are causing issues.
Anderson says they checked with maintenance districts across the state and believe this money will help take care of some of the issues.
Anderson says the Transportation Commission took the same action and spent 12 million on winter repairs in 2019. He says there are issues across the state and the money will be spread evenly among the maintenance districts.
The DOT’s chief engineer, Mitch Dillavou says the conditions have been the worst you can get for pavement.
He says his perfect winter conditions for pavement are when the temperature drops and stays the same and there’s not a lot of melting water or rain that gets into pavement cracks. Dillavou says the older pavement has more problems.
Anderson says the 15 million dollars will be moved out of the next fiscal year budget to allow them to handle the repairs as soon as they can.
