Heads up! Iowa DOT is using technology to give you more information when you’re on the road

October 28, 2022

Chances are if you spend much time driving, you’ve come up on a line of traffic that is stopped or slowed down due to road construction. These lines or “queues” as traffic safety professionals call them, put drivers at a high risk of rear-end crashes if they’re not paying close attention to what is up ahead. This construction season the Iowa DOT explored additional technology that can provide drivers with more detailed information about stopped or slow traffic ahead.

Enhancing worker safety – new technology may light the way

October 26, 2022

Highway maintenance workers will tell you, to work along the road, you must keep a constant eye on both the work you are doing and the traffic moving around you. But splitting your concentration isn’t ideal and it can be dangerous.

As part of the Iowa DOT’s Business Plan,  a one-year objective for 2022 seeks to “Improve Work Zone Safety.” One element of that objective is focused on helping motorists better see work zones, theoretically helping them avoid crashes in work areas.  With the 2020 deaths of two of our employees, Lynn Roder and Jeff Arbogast, fresh in our hearts and minds, this objective has become even more urgent.

Keeping you safer when the unexpected happens

July 19, 2022

You're
 on the road, just trying to get where you need to go and you see a line of cars slowing down in front of you. You assume there’s a crash up ahead but wonder when the line will get moving again.

When there is a crash or other incident on the road, it puts both those sharing the road and first responders at risk.  Two of our Iowa Department of Transportation core values are “Safety First” and “People Matter.” Part of living those core values includes managing roadway incidents in a coordinated way to make sure anyone involved in an incident is cared for in a fast and efficient manner and ensuring the safety of all responders and those travelers on the road near an incident.