A recent new decision by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) is allowing new possible projects to happen on the north side of the city of Jefferson.

Greene County Development Corporation Director Greg Piklapp says a previous traffic study, that included a two mile radius from the intersection of US Highway 30 and Iowa Highway 4 in Jefferson, was submitted to the DOT, due to their requirement of an updated study for an interested business prospect. 

He points out that the DOT had ownership of all of the easements along Highway 30 since the 1950s, when the property was originally acquired to construct the roadways. Piklapp explains that the DOT changed a policy in 2022 that would no longer allow additional access points along the highways, whereas before, they would consider it on a case-by-case basis. 

He explains how not adding more access from the highways could be detrimental for the future by only using frontage roads.

“That is really constrictive for future economic development growth to that area because if everything has to flow through there to these portals that have staggered over the decades, the DOT would require massive safety upgrades for the traffic flows, but then also too,  it would really increase our expenses exponentially to run infrastructure and roads to these other potential areas that we’re looking to develop.”

Jefferson City Administrator Scott Peterson says despite the decision by the DOT, they kept working because developing that portion of town was one of the city’s top priorities. So, he states additional assistance was made by State Representative Carter Nordman and State Senator Jesse Green, which proved to be critical because the DOT changed its mind and allowed for three additional access points in the corridors.

“And the timeline for response to our inquiry, in government terms, this was absolutely amazing how quickly this occurred. I’ll tell you, I raised this issue with Carter and Jesse on a Saturday morning  legislative forum and heard back from them on the following Monday morning on what action steps were occurring. It’s dramatic to see how quickly things were done and just very, very, very appreciative for that.”  

Piklapp says the areas include Highway 4 across from the casino access, Highway 30 across from the Red Roof Inn access and Highway 30 across from North Grimmell Road. He adds that having this barrier removed not only drew the interest back from the initial business prospect to restart discussions, but it will allow for more future development.