River Road has been freshly repaved--so what's the "problem?"

The crews that built the Freeport Trail this summer also were hired at the same time to repave River Road.

That portion of the project is also finished now.  The surface is smooth, the shoulders have been graveled and the traffic lines have been painted.  So why were Winneshiek County supervisors recently discussing problems on the road?

Supervisor Floyd Ashbacher says it's because he's gotten complaints from a number of Freeport residents that cars have been traveling too fast on the repaved road.  Ashbacher says he's received "lots of complaints."

County Engineer Lee Bjerke says it's not because speed limits on the road have been raised--they haven't.  There's a 25 mile an hour speed limit within Freeport and a 35 mile an hour speed limit starting outside of Freeport.

Bjerke has a different possible explanation: "The road is smooth."  He guesses that motorists may be driving faster because the road is in good shape.

Slowing down motorists, says Bjerke, will now have to be a traffic enforcement initiative.  He says there are plenty of signs showing the speed limits--now it's up to motorists to ease off the accelerator.