Iowa Roads Failing as Harsh Winter Turns Gravel to Mud

Even Farm Bureau Says Tax Increase is the Only Solution

Iowa's rural roads are a muddy mess. This spring has been particularly difficult for the farmers and rural residents who travel on gravel every day.

Secondary roads in Iowa always get a little soft and gooey this time of year as the ground thaws and temperatures rise. But the brutal winter that Iowa just endured seems to have created a perfect storm for country roads around the state. Now many rural Iowans have been left stuck in the mud.

For several weeks in March, many rural roads in southern Iowa were literally impassable.

Two sunny days this week have improved conditions significantly, drying up the mud and allowing county crews to get to work with their motor graders. But the damage inflicted on the roads this spring won't be easily fixed.

"It's like a third-world country out there," said Martha Viner at a town hall meeting in Monroe County with Iowa legislators Saturday. Viner is the postmaster of the small town of Lovilia. She said that mail service had been delayed for days in some parts of Monroe County. "It's a wonder that somebody didn't die out there because you couldn't get a fire truck or an ambulance out there if you tried," she said.

Kevin Crall, superintendent of the Albia Community School District, said that school buses have been pulled off of gravel roads and kids couldn't get to school numerous times. "It was a real problem," Crall said. "We had 10 or 12 kids just the other day that couldn't get to school."

County Secondary Roads departments, many short on funding because winter weather caused them to rack up overtime pay, are now faced with thousands of miles of gravel roads that need truckloads of expensive gravel.

Conditions have gotten so bad the usually tax-phobic Iowa Farm Bureau Federation has come out in favor of a fuel tax increase for road improvements. The powerful Farm Bureau lobby is even promoting its position with radio ads, urging lawmakers to increase taxes on fuel at a time when gasoline and diesel prices are near record highs.

Don Niebuhr, president of the Monroe County Farm Bureau, said a fuel tax is the most fair way to raise revenue for road improvements. "Farm Bureau feels the best way to get funding for the roads is to increase the fuel tax, rather than with (vehicle registration) fees. There are figures out there that show that fees will cost the average person, in a few years when they start buying new vehicles, around $400 a year," said Niebuhr.

Rep. Richard Arnold, a Republican who formerly chaired the Iowa House Transportation Committee, said he was opposed to a bill that would raise vehicle registration fees to boost funding for roads because too much is being spent in urban areas. "A lot of our roads are in bad shape, not just the rock roads. But for the past few years the highway commission has put a lot of the Department of Transportation money into building bypasses around larger cities," said Arnold. "They've forgotten about us out here. When I was chair of the Transportation Committee, I reminded them of that a number of times. But you see what has happened."

Sen. Paul McKinley, also a Republican, said it's simply a question of priorities. "We have a $7.5 billion budget. Why wouldn't rural roads, that conduct commerce for the ag sector of the economy of Iowa, why wouldn't that be a priority?" said McKinley.

Photo by Brian Chambers, courtesy of Albia Newspapers, Inc.