Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

The Iowa Transportation Commission Tuesday, meeting in Ames, approved nearly 500-thousand dollars in grants for railroad planning studies, including $78,400 for the Mills County-Pottawattamie County Rail Port Study. D-O-T spokesperson, Rose Wazny, says the grants will go to six city or county studies. “The planning study grants are a pilot project that was initiated by the legislature in 2001 and we are no implementing that idea that areas as they have rail development and rail needs, that there needs to be some thought as to how that development will happen in a much broader picture,” according the Wazny. A study that includes Pottawatamie and Mills County is the largest project in terms of the area it covers.

Wazny says, “That’s the largest one and they are looking at potential areas that might be suited to a railport. And it’s a large area, so they are going to look at both man-made and natural constraints that could impact how rail is developed in the future.” The Central Iowa Planning Group won a 100-thousand dollar grant to look at what’s called a “transloading” facility, which most often is a combination of trucking and railroad transportation. “A couple of years ago the Central Iowa Planning Group did a study on the idea of an intermodel facility, which is kind of a very, very large capital intensive type of transloading facility. And now they are going to look at maybe different shapes to see how transloading might be applicable in the central Iowa area,” Wazny explains.

Sioux City won a 100-thousand dollar grant for a second phase of their study.Phase one laid a basis for some freight activities that might occur in the future. And phase two is going to look at a very broad picture of rail and road-freight transportation and those needs through the city and surrounding areas, and how those future investments will best serve the movement of freight and people through the Sioux City area,” Wazny says.

Iowa Falls won the third 100-thousand dollar grant. “They are in the process of developing a new rail industrial park…and they are looking at very specific things about how it will be structured and how it too will play off existing structure in that area,” Wazny says. Waszny says the idea with all the planning grants is to be ready to meet the transportation needs across the state. She says rail transportation is becoming more and more of an option for Iowa shippers, as many of the things produced here are very heavy and are sent long distances.

(Radio Iowa)

The Page County Sheriff’s Office says two women from Red Oak were injured during a rollover crash Monday evening, near Shenandoah. Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports 45-year old Katrina Flick, a passenger in a 1996 Ford Explorer driven by 19-year old Jennifer Mulligan, suffered incapacitating injuries, and was transported by Life Net helicopter to an Omaha trauma center after being extricated from the vehicle by mechanical means.  The crash happened at around 5:20-p.m., Monday.

Palmer says Mulligan and Flick were traveling south on U-S Highway 59, when the SUV went off onto the shoulder of the road. Mulligan over-corrected, causing the to cross the highway and roll over, coming to rest on its wheels. Mulligan suffered non-incapacitating injuries, and was transported by ambulance to the Shenandoah Hospital. Both women were wearing their seat belts.

The crash totaled the Explorer. The Sheriff’s report did not indicate if any citations were issued.