Supervisors nix increased road weights
Nick Johansen
The Red Oak Express
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has voted to get ahead of proposed legislation that would increase weight restrictions to 130,000 pounds on county roads and bridges.
At the supervisors meeting March 19, the board met with county engineer Brad Skinner, who outlined a resolution regarding the weight restriction increase.
“A resolution was passed in Lee County regarding the proposed change. The resolution also includes language that states the Montgomery County Board of supervisors strongly urges all Iowa lawmakers and Gov. Reynolds to work to repeal the portion of House File 2502, passed in 2018, that increased allowable loads on county roads. That was legislation that we went into this legislative session hoping to have repealed. They are related items,” Skinner said.
Skinner added there is a good deal of support for the legislation in the eastern part of the state, where there is more of a logging industry and construction vehicles, but it remained a concern for Montgomery County.
“We have a concern it will spread to general use. Our roads are not designed for these heavy loads, our bridges certainly are not. It will lead to a quicker deterioration of the system we’ve worked very hard to keep pace with right now. I don’t see anything positive coming out of it for the citizens in our part of the state, and it will definitely create hardships on the agricultural community as we have to further restrict bridges with embargoes,” commented Skinner.
Skinner said there were a lot of false securities in the numbers, which wasn’t the case.
“There’s a train of thought that because they have more axles on them, they are okay on county pavements, but as much impact as they’ll have on our bridges, I’m just as concerned for our pavements, because it’s a geometric impact it will have on our pavements. It could have up to 100 times the impact with a 130,000 pound load.
While there was a lot of pushback in the proposed weight increase from certain parts of the state, Supervisors Chairman Mike Olson felt the legislation would make it through.
“They have the votes to get this through, and they’re going to pass it. No one could explain to me why, but it’s going to happen,” Olson said.
The supervisors unanimously approved the resolution. Skinner said the information would be forwarded onto the governor and area lawmakers.
Skinner also updated the supervisors on the roads following the recent snowmelt and areas of flooding.
“The roads are recovering quicker than expected. We are rebuilding base on areas of the roads, such as Evergreen, between 270th Street and new Hwy 34, L Avenue, going out to the landfill, 250th St. from Evergreen to Hwy 48, the Chicken Ranch road, ad other areas around the county. We’re putting down the red rock as a base, then trying to blend it or cover it with limestone,” said Skinner.
Skinner added that hopefully the worst was behind them, but it all depended on what happened this spring.
“It was a perfect storm going into it on the negative side going in, but we have some improved conditions coming out, so I think we’ll be alright,” Skinner said.
Skinner also advised they would be reviewing the rock haul map, and determining the amount of money to spend and the locations after they see how things settle out.