March 28, 2024

Letter to the editor

Record winter snowfalls, spring rains and recent thawing have taken a major toll on ALL county roads in southern Iowa, not just those in Clarke County. This county alone has an infrastructure including 660.5 total miles of roads, 532.5 of which are gravel. It also has 147 bridges, 3,400 cross-road culverts and 12,000 driveway culverts. The yearly secondary road budget is most often stretched trying to keep pavements patched, gravel on our roads, bridges open and culverts draining properly.

The County has basically three funding sources for secondary roads. One is a road-use (gas) tax, which comes from the State, another is from rural local taxes which we levy the maximum allowed by the State, and the third is a funding received to apply rock on “Farm-to-Market” roads. Utilizing monies available, the County has averaged applications of one million dollars a year of gravel to our roads for the last 10 years.

The County has a very capable workforce of which we all should be proud. Clarke County is continuously striving to find ways to maintain and improve our local transportation routes with the funds available.

As most of us know, Mother Nature is often unpredictable and uncontrollable. The support and understanding shown by many is sincerely appreciated.