Improvements to Old Stage Road will aim at making the road safer

The biggest cause of accidents on single lane rural roads like Old Stage Road is a single vehicle leaving the roadway due to a number of driver distractions.

That's why state officials are interested in paying for a road project that would add four feet of paved shoulder to the road north of Wal-Mart--and rumble strips on the side of the roadway.  The rumble strips would alert drivers if they were in danger of crossing onto the shoulder.

Winneshiek County officials had discussed an 8-foot paved shoulder, but state officials would pay for only four feet.  County Engineer Lee Bjerke says the four foot paved shoulder, while not what the county requested, would still accomplish the task of making the roadway safer.

Bjerke added that the project is not in any way connected with the upcoming Trout Run Trail extension/River Road repaving.