Bridge collaboration solidifies relationships and fosters new ideas

December 3, 2018

How do you get from Iowa to Nebraska? Well since there’s a river in between, we venture a guess that a bridge will be involved.

At one time not all that long ago, there was no national system of highways. Just because a road ran to the border of another state, there was no guarantee that the road would continue past the border. In addition, bridges, especially those crossing major rivers, were few and far between.

Luckily, transportation professionals quickly realized that the need for people and goods to move doesn’t end at a state’s border. Over the years collaboration and cooperation between states has continued to grow. Much of the work done at departments of transportation around the country has become standardized, helping travelers know what to expect and have a relatively consistent experience no matter what state they are traveling in. That’s not to say each state doesn’t have a few innovations up their sleeves.

Working together during tough conditions to make travel safer

November 16, 2018

Responding to a traffic crash is never fun and can often be one of the most dangerous tasks asked of emergency response professionals including Iowa Department of Transportation field staff.

To improve traveler and responder safety and to keep traffic moving as smoothly as possible during an incident, emergency response professionals from all over Iowa are training together to improve traffic incident management, often called TIM.

Getting the blues is a good thing

November 2, 2018

You would think a huge orange snowplow truck would be easy to spot, but in the midst of a winter snowstorm, even the behemoths that plow snow can become nearly invisible.  For those brave souls venturing out into the storm, the Iowa Department of Transportation is doing more than just plowing snow to keep you safe.

“Making our snowplow trucks as visible as possible is a major focus during a winter storm,” said Craig Bargfrede, Iowa DOT winter operations administrator. “Snowplow trucks typically travel much slower than other traffic only going around 35 miles per hour or less. When they hit drifts, they can throw large snow clouds around them. This can disrupt the vision of drivers in vehicles traveling around the plows and potentially create increased risks for crashes.”

Two families are forever entwined by a DOT hero

October 25, 2018

When Nate Thayer, highway technician in the Martensdale shop, took the day off work last June 15 to go bow fishing, little did he realize a day on Lake Red Rock would rock his world.

Nate said the day started off with him playing with his four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. Then it was off to daycare for the kids and to the lake for Nate. “Usually my wife goes with me,” he said, “But that day she was busy, and I couldn’t find anyone else to go. It’s the first time in years I’ve gone fishing alone.”

Dinner's going to have to wait

September 24, 2018

It was Nov. 20, 2012. Mary Litterer had all the makings of Thanksgiving dinner in the trunk of her Lincoln Continental as she drove west on the Avenue of the Saints from Charles City. When she neared the intersection near Floyd going 60 miles per hour, life changed in an instant.

“I can’t figure out how he didn’t see me,” said Mary of the 76-year-old driver who crossed her path. “It was 6 p.m. in November, so it was dark, but he had to have seen my headlights coming at him when he entered the intersection.”

Although she had only seconds to react before crashing broadside into the van that was crossing in front of her, she said, “All I could think about was trying to miss the driver’s side door so the crash wouldn’t kill the driver.”

AgDiscovery comes to the Dallas County scales

August 28, 2018

Our Motor Vehicle Enforcement officers often go out to trucking companies to educate drivers on what it takes to have a successful commercial vehicle inspection. A few weeks ago, our officers hosted a group of high schoolers at our Dallas County scale facility to show them what we look for
when shipping animals on Iowa highways.

The group was part the United State Department of Agriculture’s AgDiscovery program. These 16 high schoolers from around the country were selected through a competitive application process to get a glimpse into college life and careers related to veterinary medicine, animal science, laboratory diagnostics, and wildlife biology. The stop at our Iowa DOT scale site was just one day of their two-week Iowa experience.