Motion by Lehman, second by Duffy, to enter Executive Session at 10:43 a.m. to discuss collective bargaining strategy for the Sheriff’s Department, Social Services, SEATS, and Ambulance under section 20.17(3), Code of Iowa: "negotiating sessions, strategy meetings of public employees… shall be exempt from the provisions of chapter 21 (Official Meetings Open to the Public)." Roll call: aye: Lehman, Jordahl, Stutsman, Thompson, Duffy.

Thompson left at 11:27 a.m.

Motion by Duffy, second by Lehman, to leave Executive Session at 11:30 a.m. Roll call: aye: Lehman, Jordahl, Stutsman, Thompson, Duffy.

Stutsman: Reports from Board of Supervisors members. We’ll start with Mike this morning.

Lehman: Charlie and I attended the Ag Chamber this morning. They’ve got some award banquets coming up as far as yield. They’ve got some farm (inaudible). They’re discussing how to organize those for the public. We gave a little report on our budget, head them off a little bit on the building code coming up. We even talked a little bit about zoning because there were quite a few of the financial lenders, just head them off about 40 acres versus 10 (inaudible) secondary market, and why they may run into problems with an applicant for a loan when they get Zoning application and stuff. Most of them are aware of it, but fill them in a little bit of the opportunities, because there are probably 7 or 8 acres there. They didn’t have input back to us. Fill them in a little bit of information. That’s all I have.

Stutsman: Well, good. Jonathan, do you have anything this morning?

Jordahl: I’m don’t have anything to report today. I’ll wait until Thursday night.

Stutsman: At 11:00?

Jordahl: At 11:00. News at 11:00.

Stutsman: Charlie?

Duffy: I might wait until Thursday night, too. No…

Stutsman: I’m not going to give you another chance.

Duffy: Just that (inaudible) to Mike, it was pretty well attended, I thought, this morning, at 7:30. Some of them had some pretty good questions. I think they know down here we’re offering them to work, (inaudible) budget, roads, all that kind of stuff. We did… I don’t know if we have one down here or not, but we’ve got Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation, nice booklet here. There is some pretty good information about farms and everything in it. You got one of these too, didn’t you, Mike?

Stutsman: Did they hand those out this morning?

Duffy: Yes.

Stutsman: Maybe we want to pass that around.

Duffy: Maybe I’ll stamp it and let it go around.

Jordahl: Does that got that increased farm size in there?

Duffy: Yes, it does.

Jordahl: Increased number of farm acres, rather.

Duffy: Farms are disappearing, and they’re getting bigger, that’s the reason why.

Stutsman: Is that it, Charlie?

Duffy: Oh, I guess, for now it is.

Stutsman: Well, we continue to work on budgets, and evidentially, Lora said this morning we will only be having one interview on Thursday? One of the applicants has withdrawn and decided to stay at Iowa State.

Jordahl: That simplifies our process, doesn’t it.

Duffy: Who was it that withdrew?

Stutsman: The individual from Iowa State. He decided to stay.

Duffy: Why don’t we…

Jordahl: Why don’t we just extend that offer than?

Stutsman: No, I’d still like to go through the interview process.

Duffy: I wonder if he takes another (inaudible) some place. Well, we can’t (inaudible).

Stutsman: No, it’s not on the agenda. That was just for information. The other thing is that. I went to a meeting yesterday to talk about the Iowa Resource House. That is a project that they want to implement in Johnson County. Basically, what it is, is just giving the opportunity for people to access information through the computer. Like if you want information about child care you can just hook into the computer system and find out all the information about child care in Johnson County. Any kind of services that are available, and eventually get to the point where you can fill out applications for food stamps or for AFDC or whatever on the computer. It’s a new program. There’s a grant that’s allowing it to come to Johnson County, so there was an informational meeting with agencies to get them interested and starting to think about it so they can put the data in so the program will be viable. It used to be called the Galileo Project, now it’s called Iowa Resource House.

Jordahl: How does it fit with 4C’s?

Stutsman: 4C’s would enter their information into it and it would be part of the database that people would…

Jordahl: Not duplicate?

Stutsman: No. Well, duplicate to a point, but it would just be another way to access that information. 4C’s does a lot of other things besides just information referral. It would be supplementing (inaudible). You’ll be hearing more about that as time goes on. That’s all I had. Deana, did you have anything?

Pillard: No.

Stutsman: We start on budgets tomorrow afternoon again at 1:30? 1:00?

Pillard: (Inaudible).

Stutsman: Wait a minute, that’s not tomorrow.

Pillard: Thursday.

Stutsman: Thursday. Right. We have MH/MR/DD this afternoon at 4:30, and the 5 Year Road Plan at 1:30.

Jordahl: In case you were looking for something to do.

Stutsman: Right. I think that’s it for right now.

Recessed at 11:35 a.m.; reconvened at 1:30 p.m. with Thompson present

Stutsman noted the Board normally has a work session of the Board with Secondary Roads Department and then they open up for public comment at the end. County Engineer Mike Gardner added that they decided to cover the 5 Year Road Plan in 3 sessions. Documentation had been handed out. Assistant County Engineer Al Miller discussed bridge rankings. Bridges that are longer than 20 feet in length are checked every 2 years. Miller said the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) assigns a sufficiency rating to every bridge and assigns a point system that takes into account the sufficiency rating, the posting in tons, the traffic count, and the detour length. He said they have the ranking in total points for each bridge, but felt cost of the bridge wasn’t taken into account for the traffic count on the road. Miller said they created an additional ranking based on the cost per vehicle using the cost divided by the traffic count. They use those 2 rankings and assign points to the bridges. Miller said the list presented to the Board was the top 25 and includes the proposed status for each bridge. He said for everything that is not programmed there is a reason and offered to answer any questions about that. Stutsman asked what top 25 bridges means. Miller said they are rated by the DOT based on their sufficiency rating. He said the lower number of points, or structurally deficient bridges, are going to be at the top of the list. Miller said the 2nd ranking the County developed has some good bridges come to the top because of the high traffic count. Miller said bridges such as Butler Bridge and Sutliff Bridge come to the top, but because the are in very good shape, they won’t be replacing them in the next 5 years. Jordahl asked why Sutliff Bridge didn’t appear on the list and Miller said they dropped it off for obvious reasons. Miller said the only big one they have on there is the Mehaffey Bridge, at number 9. He said they aren’t going to do anything with in the next 5 years, but it is moving up on the list and will need to be replaced in the next 15 to 20 years. He noted it is load rated. Gardner said that bridge has been there for over 40 years.

Lehman asked if Greencastle Avenue bridge had been looked at. Miller said they didn’t include it because the price tag is too high to include. Lehman said they should keep that on the back burner. Gardner said the last study was in 1993 and it was estimated to be 13 million dollars (in 1993 dollars). Gardner said he wouldn’t encourage a situation like that. Miller said he left some blank space on the program for future projects, if the Board decides to spend the money on any other projects. Duffy said there might be some extra dollars available, citing ECICOG. He said the bridge should be on the plan someplace. Some people have to drive 19 miles around and Greencastle Avenue is a straight shot across the county. Stutsman said it is up to the Board to put it on, if they can find the dollars. Jordahl asked Duffy about the Reservoir Roads Fund for funding this project. Duffy said some of it could. Miller asked that people interested in it help look for funds because of the difficulty for their department to find time to look for additional forms of funding. Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak said the recommendation of the 1993 study was to not replace that bridge at that location, but to the west, because of the impact on sensitive areas and flooding. Gardner said that was correct, that the suggested location for a new bridge was approximately where Cemetery Road comes up from the south. That bridge design would be a low-water type with a $3,000,000 price tag. Gardner would recommend, if they spend that kind of money, to build one up out of the water. Duffy said it’s about time they should start thinking about replacing the Greencastle bridge, to relieve the pressure on Highway 965. Stutsman asked if there was much pressure on Highway 965. Duffy said there are a lot of vehicles on Highway 965.

Miller discussed the oil roads they looked at for upgrading. Miller said they examined 14 road segments and ranked them using their criteria: traffic counts and trends, accident history, safety concerns, type of service provided, and board recommendations. He said they plotted the traffic counts from 1957 to 1998 and produced a computer-generated trend line based on the DOT data. Miller said they tried to give the Board of Supervisors a lot more information, but still not make it confusing. Jordahl said they need to pay close attention to the scale of the numbers on the left hand side, average daily traffic count, when making comparisons. Stutsman asked why there was such a drop on Lake Manor Road. Miller said the count may be affected by the day the count was made. Jordahl said 660 is not so far out of line and Gardner added the prior count may have been the one there was a problem with. Jordahl said the same question is true with the Newport Road data. Gardner said the lines are generated with a linear regression and there might actually be an exponential function. Stutsman asked how these roads were selected. Gardner said they selected the ones that had the higher traffic counts, the ones that are located in the North Corridor, the ones there was an interest in doing, and the ones already in the program. Miller said they can put together the same information on other roads. Stutsman said she was interested in Sioux Avenue. Gardner said Sioux Avenue was a rock road, with only a short distance of chip seal near the highway. Miller said they have another category for the rock roads. He said it wouldn’t rank high. Miller said, before the next meeting, they can put information together the Board wants. Dvorak said they have a proposal from someone who may want to put a golf course west of Sioux Avenue and the City of Iowa City has shown interest in extending Scott Boulevard south; so they may want to talk to the City about that. Stutsman suggested including that in the agenda of a future joint meeting.

Miller said the information is ranked 1 through 14 in order, highest to lowest. He said he has recommendations on the right hand side, where the projects show up on the program or not. Miller said their recommendation is negotiate a 28E agreement for 12th Avenue Extension. The road probably needs to be upgraded by Coralville and North Liberty and whether or not the County puts funds towards the project is up to the Board. Jordahl said it would be interesting to see the 85th percentile of speed traveled, because it may correlate to accidents. Gardner said they don’t have that information, but could get it. Stutsman asked about a 12th Avenue Extension upgrade and Gardner replied that should be up to the cities because it would go into the cities. Jordahl asked why it appears so high on the program, if the County won’t do it. Miller said that is where it ranked, but they have given the reason they don’t want to do it. Duffy asked if the Mehaffey Bridge Road/180th Street upgrade would complete the asphalt link to Solon. Miller and Gardner replied it would.

Miller said there were 3 paved road rehabilitation projects on the program, which include adding to shoulders and flattening slopes when the surface is rehabilitated. He said one project is Road F-12 between Swisher and Highway 965. Jordahl noted that area is part of Swisher’s growth area and questioned whether to put money into a road that will be annexed. Miller said the cost for a rehabilitation isn’t as high as regrading and paving. Duffy said he would have a problem with spending the money and having it annexed. Gardner said it could be comparable to 12th Avenue Extension. Stutsman said Deer Creek Road might be comparable. Jordahl said part of Deer Creek probably would stay in the County for the foreseeable future because of the quarry. Miller said the other 2 are a rehabilitation of Sand Road from 480th Street to the north to meet with Iowa City. He said he has talked with the Iowa City Engineer, who has indicated a willingness to participate down to Sycamore Street. He said the decisions on participation will need to be passed up to the Board and Council. Miller said he would like to ask the City to participate a mile farther south. Miller said there are some archeological problems in the area. He said that is in the program in FY2005. He went on to the Wapsi Avenue resurfacing, which includes adding shoulders and flattening foreslopes. He said that was on this year and was moved back to FY2001 for work in the spring. He said the project is south of Lone Tree. In reply to Duffy’s question, Miller said they would have to acquire right-of-way for this project, similar to the project that was done north of Lone Tree. Stutsman asked whether this would have the paved shoulders for a bike trail. Miller reported this would not. He said some of the granular shoulders on the paved roads connecting Iowa City, Hills, and Lone Tree could be paved at a later point. Jordahl asked about the costs of doing the paving on shoulders later. Miller said it is cheaper to do it when the shoulders are widened rather than waiting, but they felt it didn’t make sense when the roads would not be connected to other roads with the paved shoulders for a number of years. Duffy pointed out that it allows the shoulders time to settle out.

Next, Miller went over the preliminary program. He said all of the projects are numbered 1 through 32. He said he hadn’t planned on going through each project individually. He said they’ve only added 2 projects, a culvert on Calkins Avenue and a culvert on Ireland Avenue, and dropped one, Cosgrove Road grading (because it rated at the bottom of the list). Miller pointed out a culvert on Rapid Creek Road and a culvert on Dingleberry Road that are on the list. Jordahl asked what the point of no return would be on projects on the list, where too much was invested to take a project off the list. Gardner said that was the Board’s decision. Miller said they would have more invested in the larger projects. Miller and Gardner said they would need to be directed on which projects to invest in the survey work to determine whether a project would even show on the project list. Stutsman asked for an example. Gardner gave the example of the Board asking for more information on Sugar Bottom Road. He said aerial photography was done, so they could draw up a preliminary design with an alignment laid out, and then an estimate of the impact and right-of way needs could be made. Lehman said Greencastle would be an example of an investment in planning in order for the Board to decide to proceed. Stutsman said she doesn’t want to invest too much money in studies to decide they can’t do the projects. Gardner said staff time spent on projects not put in the program means there is design time not available for projects actually constructed. Miller added not doing the planning would mean they would have to answer with "I don’t know."

Lehman said, with traffic counts, they have to use intuition to predict the future. Jordahl said the recommendations from Secondary Roads can tell the Board when the costs are going to be too much for the Board to want to spend the money on a project. Miller said the recommendations they are presenting have used information provided by the Planning and Zoning staff to Secondary Roads.

Miller said future projects was the next document. Miller said it includes paved road rehabilitations, oil road reconstructions, and one gravel road, Deer Creek Road. He said they can study these for future projects. He said the oiled roads listed previously are on here, except Cosgrove Road. He said additional roads, such as the IWV rehabilitation, have a high traffic count on parts of the road and not so high on others. Miller said there are a number of structures on the IWV Road that need replacing and they are holding off on doing anything with the structures until they see what they are doing with the road. Miller said they were going to try to get as much out of the roads as they can. He said the DOT may not allow another resurfacing like was done in 1987 without upgrading the road. Jordahl asked why paved shoulders weren’t being considered for the IWV Road, because of the incompatibility of bicycles and traffic to the landfill. Gardner said the west end of the IWV was paved because it was an oiled road and they suggest doing the east end when resurfacing becomes necessary. He said the shoulders would be widened, foreslopes flattened, and problems with the geometry corrected. Miller said there will be more to this project than the widening of shoulders on the straight roads south of Iowa City.

Miller said there is a blank sheet in the future projects list for any additions the Board wants to make. Gardner said the roads on the future projects list are not prioritized. Miller said this list is available so that people would know what is being considered for future inclusion in the program. Miller said Deer Creek Road was the only gravel-surfaced road that they felt warranted paving. He said it would be a decision of the Board at what level of financial participation the County would participate with Iowa City and Coralville. Miller said the design and construction would not be done by the Johnson County Secondary Roads. Jordahl said the Deer Creek Road traffic count would fall way off once Highway 965 is extended and an investment in Highway 965 might be better. Gardner said the project called Deer Creek Road is whatever would serve that function.

Miller noted gravel roads that they looked at and have not included in the future projects: North Liberty Road from Dubuque Street to North Liberty, The Freund Road from Highway 923 west, Observatory Avenue, the Amana Road, Greencastle Avenue, and Blain Cemetery Road. He said some of these were part of the traffic study conducted by Johnson County Council of Governments (JCCOG) Transportation Planner Jeff Davidson. Gardner said the other reason they may have appeared was the traffic counts based on Davidson’s study. The cut-off for inclusion was at least 300 vehicles per day. Miller said adoption of the proposed road standards may prevent a gravel from having to be regraded and paved based on traffic volume, because they wouldn’t let it get to that point. He said the Board could work with a developer to improve the road or the Board could direct having the road on the program, if there is a reason to do it. Gardner said Sioux Avenue is another road that might be considered.

Jordahl asked about the Mehaffey Bridge Road widening from North Liberty to Sugar Bottom Road. Gardner explained that and other similar projects would occur when a surface rehabilitation would be needed. Lehman said the funding source for projects may not be known too far in the future. He asked if the amount of Farm to Market funds available in FY2002 isn’t known. Miller said part of their problem is they are in the red on Farm to Market funds. He said they receive a certain amount each quarter. Gardner said the State gives them projections each year and this year’s projection is almost $1,200,000. He said currently their Farm to Market fund is $1,100,000 in the hole and it will take a year to build back to $0. Miller said they were allowed to overspend their Farm to Market money. Stutsman asked if 500th Street west of Sharon Center was on the program last year. Miller explained they changed that to just Sharon Center Road. He said they aren’t sure whether to take Sharon Center Road to 540th Street and then over to Highway 1 or take 500th Street over; based on traffic counts and the future reconstruction of Highway 1. He said they wanted to keep away from the intersection at the cheese factory, which isn’t a real good intersection. They want to see what the State has planned for Highway 1 to see what is the best option. Gardner said the 1994 traffic count showed most of the traffic on 500th Street and in 1998 the count showed the traffic shifting to 540th Street. Duffy said the same thing would be true for the intersection of Newport Road and Highway 1, that they need more information from the DOT. Lehman asked if having a project start in one year and finish in the next year meant an estimate had to be made how much came out of each year. Gardner said at best that is a guess.

Jordahl asked about the connection between West Overlook and Prairie Du Chien Road. He said the road narrows down on the Corps of Engineers’ land and asked if there were discussions with the Corps about adding a trial. Miller said the Corps indicated they didn’t have the funding to make improvements. Jordahl asked if recreational trails should be specifically delineated in the plan. He asked if there was room for a 5 year rec. trail plan to augment the road construction plan. Miller said they could note that. He said some of the oil roads that they are looking at rehabbing aren’t because they want to pave the shoulder. Thompson said they should just make some notation on the projects, such as Prairie Du Chien Road, that would include a paved shoulder. Duffy objected to acquiring additional right-of-way for a trail. Miller said the same right-of-way would be required for a paved or unpaved shoulder; additional right-of-way would only be needed for a dedicated trail. Miller said whether the shoulder is paved or not would not be a factor in whether to improve the road or not.

Stutsman asked why Newport Road is on the 5 Year Plan. Miller said it ranked number 2. He reviewed the top rankings: number 1-Mehaffey Bridge Road/180th Street, number 2- Newport Road, number 3- Sharon Center Road, number 4- 12th Avenue Extension (which has other factors to take it off the program). Jordahl asked if the rating for Newport Road is a product of the 1998 traffic count and accident history. Miller said it is a product of the existing traffic count and the trend for what they are trying to predict for the future. He said traffic and development is increasing. He said accident history is a factor. He said the safety concerns, the horizontal and vertical geometry, and the surface it is providing, are critical factors. He said it is a collector road. He said it doesn’t make sense to improve Sugar Bottom without improving Newport Road and Mehaffey Bridge Road. He said they have followed what they took as a Board recommendation to look more closely at the roads in the North Corridor for improvement. Jordahl asked where the high traffic count on Newport Road came from, in 1998 compared to 1994, and where were the counters placed. Miller said depending on the outcome, you can question the day the traffic count was taken, but the thing you can’t really argue with is the traffic counts have doubled in the last 10 years. Miller said you can question the trip generation used to project counts, but he said it’s a fact that a lot of the acres out there are zoned for development and the traffic count can go up. Thompson asked, if in their view, Mehaffey Bridge Road, Sugar Bottom Road, and Newport Road will be the arterial routes when all is completed. Miller said 180th Street and Mehaffey Bridge Road is an arterial route, because it collects traffic from roads such as Sugar Bottom Road and traffic from Solon to North Liberty. He said Newport Road collects traffic from Sugar Bottom Road and the gravel roads. Miller said Sugar Bottom Road is less of a collector classification than Newport Road would be. He said it does collect some traffic from the development on the road and off it, but the traffic dumps out on the other 2 roads. Jordahl said it has a mean accident history. Miller agreed with the mean accident history, adding that traffic is increasing. Duffy noted the problem with the number of deer being hit. Miller added the accident history only covers reported accidents.

Jordahl said there is a tendency to speed on seal coat roads without taking into account the geometry. Duffy agreed, adding it doesn’t matter where the seal coat road is. Jordahl said the scenic roads question had been brought up to him several times. Jordahl wondered if the County Engineer had any contact with the group promoting the concept. Gardner said they had gotten information recently from the I-SOARR group. Jordahl asked if Secondary Roads had an opinion regarding a scenic roads concept. Stutsman suggested they stay focused on the 5 Year Road Plan. Jordahl said, if a policy like this were adopted by the County, then it would affect the 5 Year Road Plan. Jordahl said more information is needed before they would be prepared to talk about a scenic roads policy. Thompson asked about the Dubuque Street project. Gardner and Miller said that project ends at West Overlook; there is an error on the map.

Jordahl asked about how Farm to Market funds are used. He cited the use of those funds on Prairie Du Chien Road and asked how much of a farm to market road Prairie Du Chien is. Gardner said the State designates what roads are Farm to Market roads that the funding can be used for. Gardner said the roads are basically higher service roads. Lehman suggested that Jordahl is asking if that can change, due to changes in traffic flow that result from other projects the County has done. Gardner said there is a process they can go through to get a road in the Farm to Market system. Gardner said it is his guess that if they ask to add a road to the system, then they would probably be asked to take a road off the system.

Richard Klein asked how often do they do a 5 Year Plan for Secondary Roads. He wondered why Amana Road isn’t on the Plan. Gardner said they make a 5 Year Program every year. He added that Amana Road didn’t come up on the priority list. Klein said Iowa County will oil their part of the road to the county line. Lehman asked if there was higher traffic volume in Iowa County compared to the priorities in Johnson County. Stutsman said she was surprised that there wasn’t the amount of traffic on that road that people think. Gardner added that they had done counts independent to the DOT counts, based on calls they have received on the level of traffic, and the data has been similar to the State’s. Klein said Falcon Avenue has received calcium chloride. He said they have not put dust control on Amana Road, which should have it because of the other roads entering Amana Road. Klein said the people on Amana Road shouldn’t pay for dust control when the pubic is using the road. Stutsman said that is the program available for participation, because the County cannot provide dust control for every road in the county. Klein said if the residents did not provide their own dust control, there would be more accidents. Jordahl said they are looking at the costs for dust control at different traffic levels, and at what level they can afford to provide it across the county, to determine what is fair. Klein said development continues in the area, even though the stated policy was to not approve more rezonings in this area. Jordahl said rezoning approval may occur some time before building occurs, so they may see things continue to occur even though there are no new approvals being made.

Klein pointed out that Amana Road had a hard surface, which was damaged by utility work and not restored. Gardner said it was chip seal road. In the mid-70s they started reverting roads to rock that didn’t meet the threshold set for chip sealing roads. Amana Road was one that did not meet the threshold. Stutsman asked if there isn’t a factor of the road flooding. Gardner said that was the other issue. Klein said the Amana Road area has not been receiving the benefits of funds paid by the Corps of Engineers for damage caused to the roads by construction of the Reservoir. Duffy said the funding helps offset the amount paid in property taxes. The State does frown on oiled roads. Duffy said they’ve been experimenting with calcium chloride and it just doesn’t work out on some of the roads. Klein said Falcon Avenue ends at Amana Road and asked where the traffic goes. Jordahl said that if you look at the calcium chloride experiment, it was not done for the roads with the highest traffic count. They tried different locations with different conditions to see how it would work best. Falcon was a low traffic road for the experiment and the results would give them a systematic basis for the road plan being developed by Secondary Roads, Planning and Zoning, and JCCOG. Duffy noted some roads in the calcium chloride program, such as Oakdale Road, have had good results, and some roads have not worked out well. Stutsman said the Board of Supervisors decided not to use the Reservoir Roads Trust Fund principle, but use the interest. Stutsman said that was a policy decision the Board made. Stutsman said they could spend the principle, but once that money’s gone, it’s gone. Carol Peters said the Reservoir Roads funds were received with no restrictions on where or how the funds are spent. Klein said they should hold safety as the number one priority.

Leo Mork said many people do their own dust alleviation because the dust occurs in large quantities during restricted time periods. Mork said they all want paved roads with no one traveling on them but themselves. He said he is very pleased with the maintenance department of Secondary Roads, but would like to see dust control. Thompson said dust control is a separate issue from the construction projects on the 5 Year Road Plan. They seem to be getting a list of roads that have unusual circumstances that need dust control. Gardner said they deal with dust control by paving a road. Stutsman said one impact of increased dust control is a decrease in building projects.

Pat Cancilla said the Board has put in a lot of money and time and effort into paving Prairie Du Chien Road up to what he called the East Overlook road. He said Newport Road is on the 5 Year Plan, but the East Overlook road (northern portion of Prairie Du Chien Road) has a similar traffic count and is not on the plan, but listed for future study. He asked how these decisions are made. Miller said the segment of Prairie Du Chien going to East Overlook is different in the ranking based on the accident history, with 2 accidents between 1987 and 1996. One accident was on the bridge, which has since been replaced, and the other was at the intersection with Newport Road. Cancilla asked why they are stopping construction at an intersection and then going at a right angle with further construction. Miller said they look at vertical and horizontal geometry problems. The grades on Prairie Du Chien Road would probably not be corrected by a reconstruction; whereas, Newport Road has significant horizontal and vertical problems that they hope to correct as a part of that reconstruction. He said the safety concerns and type of service provided rank higher for Newport Road, even though the traffic counts are similar. Stutsman said the road to the Reservoir would not be considered an arterial road. Assistant Planning and Zoning Director R.J. Moore said the potential to add to the average daily traffic count is nowhere near as great on the northern segment of Prairie Du Chien Road as what will be added on Newport Road between Prairie Du Chien Road and Sugar Bottom Road. Stutsman said the Board is trying to assess what is going on in the county, looking at where platted lots are already in place for development, be proactive and anticipate where the infrastructure needs to be put in place.

Walter Plotz said he was looking at the traffic count on 250th Street from I-380 to Highway 6. He indicated the count of 795 seems to be going upward. He said that would tell you there would be traffic on Greencastle Avenue, if there was a bridge open there. He said there is traffic from the Amana Road area to Oxford, because the sale barn there is the only one for farmers in that area. Plotz said the blacktop on 120th Street east of Swisher is a different type of blacktop that gets extremely slick when icy. Plotz was not sure if a Greencastle bridge project would need to be elevated as high as projected. He said they could talk to the National Guard about helping with regrading, saving costs. He said the Corps should help out, if they raise the level of the Reservoir. Ivan Struzynski said they need to do the work on the Greencastle bridge. He said they should put it on the 5 year plan. He said the first 2 steps are done with the study having already been done.

Vernon Needon thanked the Board for the reconstruction of Prairie Du Chien Road, saying it is great. He said the T-intersection has slowed the traffic. Needon said he has the best ringside seat for that intersection. In the morning and evening the cars are lined up to make the corner at Newport Road and also for Prairie Du Chien Road up to the Corps of Engineers’ property. He would like to see Prairie Du Chien Road finished the same way, suggesting the Corps be asked to spend the money to get bicycle traffic onto trails. Tom Carsner said there has been a lot of talk about residential development. He said there has been some attempt to quantify the residential traffic, and asked if they could create some way to quantify the amount of farm traffic on the roads. Because Farm to Market funds are being used, he said that should be a first priority.

Duffy left at 3:20 p.m.

Needon said there was much discussion about what is pristine when Prairie Du Chien Road was reconstructed, but it doesn’t mean the cow signs are. He noted that he wasn’t allowed to erect a billboard. Moore said the signs that are up are considered illegal under the County ordinance. Lambert Struzynski said there was a bad wreck west of Swisher, and from where the deputy passed him on 250th Street, the deputy had an additional 15 minutes travel to get to the scene. He said that shows the necessity for the bridge.

Duffy returned at 3:22 p.m.

Reverend Bob Welsh said he hopes they will look into the possibility of making provisions for scenic roads. He said he hadn’t thought of that until it was brought up several months ago. He said it would impact the 5 Year Plan. He said there was a chicken and egg aspect; if they upgrade the road, they will get more development. Joe Novotny said the calcium chloride treatment can get sloppy when it rains. He echoed the comments earlier that the heavier traffic occurs on some roads at certain times of day.

Todd Foster asked for clarification on road counts cited on roads that had more than one section. Gardner said he did average the counts on those roads with more than one segment. Stutsman said she was not opposing the scenic byways concept, but only wanted to keep the discussion focused on the 5 Year Road Plan and not get sidetracked. Jordahl said, if no new plats or rezonings would be approved, there would still be a tremendous amount of development pressure with the large number of platted lots that already exist. He said paving the Prairie Du Chien Road or Newport Road would not lead to development; that would occur anyway. Stutsman said the next meeting on the 5 Year Road Plans is on February 17th at 6:00 p.m.

Jordahl said he would propose putting the remainder of Prairie Du Chien Road in the 5 Year Plan. Lehman cited Sioux Avenue as an example of roads to discuss with Iowa City. Thompson said they need to look at impacts other than the neighborhood traffic. Jordahl suggested they have the Engineer look at the costs for improvements to the IWV Road. Miller said there would be additional work needed to come up with those costs. The Board would need to decide whether to direct them to spend the money to do the preliminary work for determining costs. Jordahl said they should get it in the plan to do that study. Stutsman said they need to look at the future plan and determine which projects they want additional information for the next year.

Recessed at 3:33 p.m.; reconvened on January 13, 2000 at 7:38 p.m.

(Continued in Part 4)