Supervisors And SCRAA Members Informally Discuss Road Plan

The Mahaska County Supervisors and representatives from the SCRAA met this past week to talk about potential solutions to the closure of 220th Street for the regional airport.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Supervisors and members from the SCRAA Board and their staff met this past week to informally discuss potential solutions to the closure of 220th Street for the regional airport.

SCRAA board member Jim Hansen brought forward a proposal he had brought forward to the Iowa Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit on Highway 163 near the regional airport site. The change would be done to help create a safer area for farm equipment, a move the Iowa DOT says they could get behind.

The lowering of the speed limit would be done in conjunction with improvements to Independence Avenue to bring that section of road up to Farm to Market status due to the closure of 220th Street.

The FAA had initially approved a service road around the end of the new regional airport runway during the environmental stage. The supervisor board in place now has expressed concern about that road and the potential slow-moving farm traffic that may find it’s way onto Highway 163. The farm to market replacement for that section of 220th Street would be Independence Avenue.

SCRAA staff member and Pella City Manager shared a map, outlining those potential changes.

The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors had previously proposed that 235th Street be upgraded to Farm to Market guidelines and was their alternative to the service road around the airport runway.

Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Groenendyk said he would speak and work with the Mahaska County Engineer Andy McGuire to see his thoughts and concerns about the project.

McGuire is a shared engineer with Keokuk County and filling that role due to a 28E agreement. The Mahaska County Supervisors continue their search for a full-time engineer.

One of the other factors in the Farm to Market road discussion is the upcoming northwest bypass that will include a bridge that will facilitate traffic entering and exiting the highway. This road will also offer a protected route across the four-lane highway.

John Bandstra, also a member of the SCRAA Board, voiced his displeasure that he was not included in the discussions regarding roads. “I find it to be a policy problem.”

Bandstra went on to say that there have been multiple fatal accidents along the discussed section of Highway 163. “All but one involved ag equipment.”

“If we are building an airport for safety, we are transferring less safety to this section as proposed here,” explained Bandstra. “There needs to be a different route that’s safer.”

Bandstra is Mahaska County’s representative on the SCRAA Board and says the 235th Farm to Market road proposal is the best he has heard to date.

Nardini said that the plan to upgrade Independence Avenue to Farm to Market was to work in conjunction with the service road at the regional airport location.

If the service road was to move forward, SCRAA engineer Jerry Searle said they would work with the FAA and include County input to bring the road up to at least the same standards it would replace.

The discussion then included what the potential service road could potentially be. The discussion included who would be include who would be in control of the road, and who would maintain the road, and to make sure the road would remain open.

Mahaska County Supervisor Steve Wanders asked Searle if the proposal being presented by the SCRAA would be safer than the County proposed improvements to 235th Street.

“I can’t say that it’s safer or less safe. I don’t think I’m in the position to say that,” said Searle, who said he supports the service road because it keeps farm and farm-related equipment off Highway 163 and answers the safety question regarding the road system. Searle believes several improvements are coming that will increase safety overall.

Wanders expressed his concern that farm equipment would be directed down 235th Street and create safety concerns. “And 235th, it’s not a real safe road, and that’s why we were trying to get a safe road for farm equipment to go down.”

“I don’t want to move their safety issues into my county,” Wanders said of the airport project.

The next steps in the process have the Supervisors discussing potential solutions more in-depth with their engineers, and putting those out for public discussion at a public meeting.

The SCRAA is continuing the purchasing of land for the airport project, and some land at the old Oskaloosa airport near Fremont has been sold to provide funds for the new land acquisition.