WALFORD, Iowa (KCRG) - Over the years, TV9 has covered many car crashes on the stretch of Highway 151 from Fairfax to Amana that have resulted in injuries or death.
Now the Iowa Department of Transportation is asking for public input on possible safety improvements to the highway.
Shirley Stickney said she thinks of her friend John Erik Halvorson every time she drives on Highway 151 after he died in a crash nearly five years ago.
“It was the end of his life. But this road’s like that. And there’s been times I’ve driven to Amana on this road, and it’s scary,” Stickney said.
One of those such times was Sunday.. when Stickney traveled on Highway 151 from Cedar Rapids.. to the Wild Hog Saloon in Walford to meet up with some friends.
She said she always drives carefully on that stretch of highway because she said it’s known for car crashes.
“People will just zip by you, they don’t really pay attention. Something has to be done out here,” Stickney said.
It’s stories like Stickney’s that led the Iowa Department of Transportation to send out a survey asking for the public’s input on possible improvements for the corridor.
The DOT said the two-lane highway can be particularly dangerous because there are little to no passing lanes or turn lanes from Fairfax into Amana.
But it said that could be changed.
“We’re considering something we call a Super-2 Highway. Which is where we increase turn lane opportunities and we add a passing lane in one direction every so many miles,” DOT District Transportation Planner Sam Shea said.
Ashley Schrock, an employee at Wild Hog Saloon, said she drives the highway every day and hears about crashes very often.
“In the 8 years I’ve been here, there hasn’t been more than two months without one I feel like. If It’s not on one end, it’s on the other end,” Schrock said.
The DOT said its survey will be open until Jan. 16, but that people can always call the DOT with their concerns even after the survey’s closed.
“Sometimes a two lane road is the appropriate road and sometimes there’s safety improvements you can make to that road,” Shea said. “I think that’s what we’re looking for now is: ‘Are we at a point we need to add some safety improvements, or is that road still functioning the way it should?’ Shea said.
You can take the Iowa DOT’s public input survey here.
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