An open letter to the public from the County Engineer

The Transportation system in the United States is a very complex system. Just think of the people and facilities required, to keep the Planes, Trains, Trucks, Automobiles, Bicycles and Pedestrians moving, the amount of freight and passengers on the road at any given moment, the needs of the present and the potential of the future.

What the future holds is anybody's guess, the ground transportation system of tomorrow will in many ways be the same and in many ways be more complex. Already intelligent transportation systems that do such things as coordinate traffic signals, direct traffic away from emergencies and make traffic flow more efficiently are being implemented. Global positioning systems have changed the way we navigate (No more maps that were impossible to fold). We are now seeing technology that may be able to help prevent "run off the road" crashes (the most frequent type of crash). The potential for the future to improve the way we travel is exciting but much of the system we currently have will be in use for a long, long time.

In the mid 1950's the first Interstate was conceived and constructed. Now we have an interstate system that is a part of the fabric of our society.  The Interstate and state primary highways, the county secondary roads and the city streets are all essential parts of the U. S. economy and the American way of life. In Iowa there are 9,393 miles of interstate and primary roads that the State manages and maintains. There are 90,076 miles of secondary roads that the Counties manage and maintain and there are 14,630 miles of city streets. Each of these roads provides a unique service to the traveling public. Interstates allow us to travel from Coast to Coast almost unobstructed. The State Primary highway allows passengers and freight to move about the state and country in an efficient manner.
 
The county roads provide connectivity of our communities and a way for our agricultural and manufacturing goods to begin their journey around the world. The city streets provide us access to quality of life activities such as schools, parks, jobs and commerce.  It is all tied together and each part is just as important as the next.

If you stop and really think about it, most of our roads have been in place for a very long time. Many county roads were established as early as the 1840's and many are still on the same alignment today. Over all of those years there has been a need to operate (Plow snow, Install signs, paint, etc.), maintain (add rock, fill potholes), extend the life (seal cracks, replace culverts) and eventually renew (replace bridges, resurface, improve safety) the roads.

It is no secret that this costs lot of money and those costs will increase into the future. Recently the Iowa County Engineers Association embarked on a 2 year study to see just what the cost of the secondary road system (County Roads) in Iowa really is. The results are staggering.

The study shows a paved county road (asphalt/concrete) costs $23,800 per year per mile to operate, maintain, extend the life and renew. On average, a hard surfaced (seal coat) road costs $18,400, a rock road $5,500 and an earthen road $1,600. Statewide that amounts to $831,000,000 dollars per year just to keep the secondary road system in the condition it is in (Winneshiek County has 3 miles of earth, 804 miles of gravel, 17 miles of hard surface and 224 miles of pavement).  The state and federal highway and the city street needs add to this total. However, the money paid into the system to maintain all parts of the road system has not kept up with the needs, partially because the user fee on fuel has not been increased since 1989.

The condition of our road system today does not allow us to just "get on and go." We have all experienced potholed streets, load limited bridges, rough crumbling highways and muddy to almost impassible roads. The road system we rely on, if not allowed to be adequately maintained, deteriorates from the day we open it to traffic. More and heavier trucks and farm machinery are becoming a reality to move American production to the world. Travel for recreation, errands and work is more and more frequent. This increased use of the roads also increases the wear and tear.

So what can be done? If you have heard me speak, you have heard how the push for increases in road funds has been the "Number 1" issue that the legislature has heard from counties, with limited results.  This has been going on for almost 10 years.  Now, the Governor has commissioned a Citizens Advisory Committee (www.iowadot.gov/transportation2020) that is holding 7 public input meetings around the state on the future of Iowa's Transportation System. The closest meetings to Winneshiek County are in Mason City at the Music Man Square Reunion Hall on August 17th, 2011 and in Waterloo at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center, Room 23, on September 14th, 2011.  Both meetings are from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. This is an opportunity to express how important it is to you to have a road system that functions well. If you cannot attend the meeting the web site (listed above) is set up to receive comments (click on the "contact us" on the web site).

No one likes to think about costs going up, especially when the economy is not what we want it to be.  However, our transportation system is one that seems to operate on a "pay me now or pay me later" basis. If enough money is not available to operate, maintain, extend the life and renew the roads, the system will decline. That will mean more potholes, more load limited bridges, more muddy roads , fewer roads so it is harder to access the production from the land and a slower rate of implementing the technology to improve the safety of our roads.   Decrease in service.

The traditional way the majority of the road funding occurs is through the fuel user fee on a gallon of fuel. The theory is that if you are going to use the road you will need to buy fuel and thus help fund the road. Fuel price increases at the pump hurt. They hurt the county, city, and state transportation maintenance departments too; by driving up the costs to provide service because almost everything we do to the roads involves fuel, leaving even less money available to perform maintenance on the deterioration of the roads. An increase in the cost of fuel, as a result of a user fee increase, allows everyone to benefit from a better maintained road system. The alternative is a road system that cannot and will not support the way of life as we need it to be.

If you feel roads are important and need to be maintained, please let the Governor's Transportation Citizens Advisory Committee know.  If you would like more information please do not hesitate to contact me.  Thank you.
 
Lee J. Bjerke, P.E., Winneshiek County Engineer