Local leaders urge legislators to release transportation funds

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By Steven Martens | Saturday, March 24, 2007 10:49 AM CDT | () comments

CLINTON, Iowa — Several local government and economic leaders voiced their support Friday for a plan that would raise $200 million per year to fund Iowa transportation projects and made suggestions on how that money could be spent.

Sen. Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa, the chairman of the Iowa Senate’s transportation committee, and Sen. Larry Noble, R-Ankeny, the ranking Republican member of the committee, were in Clinton on Friday as part of their statewide tour to talk to Iowans about their views of the state’s transportation needs.

According to an Iowa Department of Transportation study, Iowa will face a $27.7 billion shortfall in transportation funding over the next 20 years. Rielly said the DOT Commission received requests for 37 projects totaling $25 million last year but was able to fund only 15 projects at $4.7 million.

“That’s nothing to sneeze at, but we need to do a lot more,” Rielly said.

Thom Hart, senior vice president of the Quad-City Development Group and a member of the Iowa Transportation Commission, said that because of the lack of funding, some pieces of a five-year transportation plan adopted in 1996 still have not been completed.

“We’re not in a crisis yet, but at some point it implodes, and we will be in a crisis,” he said.

The DOT has proposed a plan called Transportation Investment Moves the Economy in the 21st Century, or “TIME-21,” that calls for raising $200 million per year through a combination of suggested measures, such as increases in the gasoline tax, driver’s license fees and vehicle registration fees, particularly on pickup trucks and motorcycles. Other suggested funding sources include taxing vehicles based on how many miles they travel in a year, privatization of some road systems and toll roads and bridges.

The plan calls for $120 million of the $200 million to go to the state, with $40 million each going to cities and counties for their transportation needs. Any revenues generated over the $200 million mark would be distributed through the current road use tax fund system. While opinions on which funding sources would be best varied among the crowd of about 50, there was consensus that more transportation funding is needed.

Edith Pfeffer of Clinton, president of the U.S. Highway 30 Coalition of Iowa, was the first of several people to urge that U.S. 30 be expanded to four lanes all the way across Iowa. Pfeffer said this year, which falls between election years, is the perfect time to get more transportation funding approved.

“I think we need to have it happen this year,” she said.

Clinton City Administrator Gary Boden said Clinton had four urgent transportation needs:

— Continued work on the Liberty Square project that will create four lanes of traffic for U.S. 30 through Clinton.

— The continued expansion of U.S. 30 to four lanes, extending 19th Avenue North from the Mississippi River to Mill Creek Parkway.

— Creating a bypass of the downtown area for truck traffic over the North Bridge.

— The repair of two railroad viaducts that are 85 years old.

Boden said it would cost $4 million each to repair the viaducts.

“That’s way beyond our capability,” Boden said. “We need help there.”

Jackson County Supervisor Larry Koos said road improvements are needed to help farmers get their products to market, including the biodiesel plants in Clinton County and ethanol plants being built in Fulton and Thomson, Ill.

“We can’t do that with the roads we have today,” Koos said. “They’re crippled. They’re on crutches.”

Steve Ames, president and CEO of the Clinton Regional Development Corp., said improved rail lines also are critical to serve the biodiesel and ethanol plants in the Clinton region.

Steven Martens can be contacted at (563) 659-2595 or smartens@qctimes.com.