Highway hearing attracts crowd

Jul 16, 2010 — The Hawk Eye

Christinia Crippes

Jul. 16, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- LETTS -- An expanded U.S. 61 to four lanes has been anxiously awaited for years, but initial design alternatives unveiled Thursday evening met mixed reaction for northern Louisa County residents.

Iowa Department of Transportation officials displayed nine possible routes for the north-south highway and solicited comments at a public meeting at the Louisa-Muscatine Elementary School in Letts.

Land acquisition and construction on the nearly 10-mile stretch from the Muscatine-Louisa county border south to Louisa County's 130th Street will not begin until 2014 and 2015, respectively.

"We have some land south of Grandview, and I'd rather it miss it, but we need to do something with Highway 61," said Ron Veach, who lives in Burlington.

Don Veach of rural Letts said about a third of his farming property could be affected in some alternatives and in others his dad's new home.

For Kelly Daniels, co-owner of Grand View Drive-In Theater, it wasn't easy to swallow four of the alternatives that could render her business inconspicuous from the highway.

"Some of them are shocking, some make me happy," Daniels said. "Four of (the options) severely hurt me, truly, because we'll not have the exposure. It's hard because there's a safety issue, which is obviously more important, but I don't want my business to go under either because of the highway."

While Don Veach showed nearly as much concern for some of the proposals, he and his wife, Sharon, acknowledged they knew the expansion would be coming some day. Both Don Veach and Daniels, though, are glad for the advance warning and the opportunity to voice their opinions.

"I definitely expressed my concern; I dropped off a letter, and I'm sending in another one," Daniels said.

While the preferred alternatives will depend on whose property is most effected, residents have until July 26 to express their opinions and another meeting will be held in the future with a narrowed list. Comment forms are available online at www.iowadot.gov/pim and maps of the project alternatives should be forthcoming at the same site although were not yet available Thursday evening.

The nine alternatives vary slightly, though impact the residents in different ways. The options offer alternatives on grading at the U.S. 61 and Iowa 92 interchange, a frontage road for the Louisa-Muscatine schools, and curve options to avoid some properties.

"This entire area falls insid e a historic district ... the structures that have historical property are more likely to be kept around," said Andy Loonan, Iowa DOT District 5 planner.

In reviewing the alternatives, Louisa County Supervisor Frank Jamison said he hoped the county would not have to take ownership of the frontage road to the school, if it becomes a reality, but thought alternatives that included it were on the right track.

"I think you've got the right idea about the school," Jamison told DOT officials. "I'm glad to see you're talking about an overpass one way or another at (Iowa) 92. I think that's important (for safety)."

The expansion project gained sufficient interest to attract residents from near Wapello who hoped to learn more about the project as it extends south. The DOT's five-year plan only extends as far as the 2015 grading project on the northernmost area of the project. The 2014 acquisition project is funded for $3 million and the 2015 graded project is funded for $14.5 million.

Warren and Trish Ball, both of Wapello, were disappointed not to see the maps extend further south but were excited about seeing progress on the highway.

"There's a lot of traffic on that Highway 61, and they need more space. There's too much traffic for two lanes," Trish Ball said, adding that the traffic seems worse south of Wapello.

The Balls said they were concerned about what the DOT's plan will be regarding the Iowa River bridges north of town. The bridges there and on County Highway 99 were inundated during the 2008 Flood.

"They only need one bridge across the river; as a county taxpayer, that'd be a savings to us. I hope that's what they'll do is eliminate one bridge," Warren Ball said.

During an earlier meeting with DOT official, the Highway 61 Coalition, that supports expansion, also discussed even further down the road and expressed an interest in gauging support for a bypass around Burlington. Both will have to wait until the DOT's five-year plan is extended, though, to learn what the future holds.

Newstex ID: KRTB-1064-47034091