AMES, Iowa- Iowa road crews are finishing up their busy season. Mark Bortle of the Iowa Department of Transportation tells WHO Radio's Jeff Angelo crews will keep working as long as they can, weather permitting.
Work continues on major projects in Ames, near Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, Council Bluffs, and the I-74 Bridge over the Mississippi River at the Quad Cities.
He says a major accomplishment this year, was the expansion of Highway 20 to four lanes across northern Iowa. He says the Highway 100 project near Cedar Rapids is also closer to completion.
Bortle says work will continue next year on several projects, including the $23 million "Fly-over" at I-35 and Highway 30 at Ames. Crews will also focus on a by-pass near Dubuque to improve traffic flow from west of city to Dubuque's airport to the south.
Work will also continue on the $1.2 billion I-74 bridge over the Mississippi River (below). Pieces of the bridge arch arrived Monday night in the Quad Cities on a barge from St Louis and will be stored until crews are ready to assemble the arch, possibly early next year. Once assembled, the arch will stretch 800 feet. Bortle says work on the bridge will continue, weather permitting, this winter. The I-74 bridge is expected to be completed in 2021.
He says each year the DOT has 400 to 500 projects, resurfacing, paving, and re-building Iowa roads.
(Photo of Ames project from Channel 13 WHO-TV)