Residents Voice Concerns over 255th Street

The Lee County Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday morning and during the Public Input portion of the agenda, many citizens of Lee County voiced problems with the current state of 255^th Street.

They spoke about how the weather can make the gravel road almost unusable and that improvements needed to be made. The road has been in the Five Year Plan for around 50 years, according to the residents.

Dennis Janssen said the road can even become one lane at times because drivers have to use the middle with the road out of fear the ditch will, “suck them in.”

This becomes especially dangerous on hills where several fatal accidents have occurred in the past.

County Engineer Ben Hall spoke on the cost of paving the road, saying it would probably be around $1.5 million per mile for the seven mile road, plus the cost of a bridge replacement. This is just the base cost without other fees building as well.

Another idea that was presented was seal coating the road, which would cost less at the beginning, but could end up costing more in the long run.

Seal coating the road would cost around $20,000 per mile with an initial $150,000-$200,000 construction cost, according to Hall.

They would also have to look at re-coating the road every three to four years.

Hall said the street sees one of the higher traffic counts of all gravel roads in the county.

Bill Batton asked what could be done to make sure this issue does not get forgotten.

“I don’t want this to die here today,” Batton said.

Central Lee High School Administrator Heather Fuger presented the idea of hosting a public forum at Central Lee so more residents could be in attendance.

The Board agreed this was a good idea and Rich Harlow said something needed to be done.

“Let’s do something folks, let’s give you some hope,” Harlow said.

The meeting has not yet been scheduled, but will hopefully take place in early February.

Stay tuned to Radio Keokuk for more updates as they become available.