(Radio Iowa) – Long-term plans are for portions of Interstate-80 in Iowa to expand to six lanes. Stu Anderson is the director of the Transportation Development Division at the Iowa D-O-T. He says in some areas, freight — hauled by semis — accounts for 40 percent of the traffic on I-80. “There some areas that will require six lane improvements, primarily in eastern Iowa initially,” he says.

“The Commission has programmed some funding to do some of that work east of Iowa City, continuing all the way to Davenport and the Illinois River we’ll be looking at making those improvements eventually and probably working its way to Des Moines. Western Iowa the traffic is a little lower, so that will take some time, but definitely I-80 and even I-35 in some stretches will need some major improvement.”

I-80 rest stop near Grinnell. (DOT photo)

You may notice some new bridge decks in eastern Iowa have been widened. Anderson says bridges have a very long life span, so bridge work on I-80 is being done with the future in mind. Anderson says transportation planners are also tracking how automated vehicles that drive themselves may impact the interstates that run through Iowa.  “That could alleviate some of those capacity needs as you have vehicles that can drive closer together, maybe have narrower lanes,” he says, “so that might really have some influence in the next 20 years as well.”

But to deal with current capacity issues, drivers in eastern Iowa are noticing the ongoing project to rehabilitate and widen the interstate that feeds into I-80 near Coralville. “The Interstate-380 corridor between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City has been a real priority corridor because of the huge demand from the commuting traffic and safety issues,” Anderson says. Anderson says that interchange is being built to handle future projects that would add lanes to I-80 in that area. “The I-80/380 interchange is a really good example of an important project because of the freight movement on that corridor,” Anderson says.

“The existing interchange just had challenges with weaving movements that caused problems for semi trucks.” About 45-hundred bridges in Iowa are rated in poor condition — in need of repairs and upgrades. Anderson says state officials have been using part of the money from the state gas tax increase that took effect in early 2015 to fix bridges. “We now just have 32 poor condition bridges on the state system,” Anderson says. Anderson says bridges rated in poor condition are still safe for traffic, but have issues that need to be addressed.

The D-O-T does an in-depth review of the state’s transportation system every five years and will submit that report to the governor and legislators later this year. Anderson made his comments during a recent appearance on Iowa P-B-S.

(Mondamin, Iowa) – Three people were injured during a collision on Interstate 29 just south of the Mondamin exit in Harrison County, Saturday evening. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2013 Chrysler driven by 35-year-old Junior Belleh Solo, of Des Moines, was southbound on I-29 at around 7:50-p.m. near mile marker 89, when the car drove onto the west shoulder and struck the rear of a 2019 Toyota Camry, that was parked on the shoulder with a flat tire.

Following the impact, the Chrysler went across both lanes of traffic and came to rest on the east shoulder of the road against the cable guard rail. Solo suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to the Missouri Valley Hospital by Mondamin EMS. The driver of the Toyota, 35-year-old Abhijit Bahl, of Omaha, also suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to the hospital in Mondamin by Missouri Valley EMS.

A front seat passenger in the Toyota, 28-year-old Kanika Dhawan, of Omaha, was flown from the scene by Life Flight to the UNMC in Omaha. All three of the injured were wearing their seat belts. The accident remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.

(Radio Iowa) – Vaping among Iowa teens is at epidemic levels and officials with the American Lung Association are launching an effort to provide kids better access to cessation programs, support and education. Beth Turner of Urbandale, director of health promotions for the association’s Iowa chapter, says schools can apply now to become a part of the proven intervention programs.

“Our Vape-Free Schools initiative provides school administrators and educators training to be able to offer an alternative suspension approach for students that are caught vaping, smoking or chewing on school property,” Turner says. “This also includes a voluntary vaping and tobacco cessation program for youth who are wanting to quit.” Now more than ever, Turner says schools need support in helping students to quit tobacco products.

“We’re seeking to raise funds to give schools across the country access to these programs,” Turner says. “There’s a cost of $400 per training seat, so our goal is to raise $400,000 to serve 1,000 schools in need by the end of 2021.” While the number of adult smokers in Iowa has remained steady or fallen slightly in recent years, the number of young people vaping and using other tobacco products is quickly rising.

“In Iowa, we see our high school tobacco use rates at an alarming 22.7%,” Turner says. “This is higher than our adult rates for smoking and we see on a national basis nearly one in five teens are vaping and close to one in four teens are using at least one tobacco product.” One of the Lung Association’s teen smoking/vaping cessation programs is called NOT, for Not On Tobacco. The 10-session program offers teens the tools, information and support to end their addiction. Learn more at lung.org.