May 23, 2003

For more information contact:
Dena M. Gray-Fisher
515-239-1922
dena.grayfisher@dot.state.ia.us

Portions of Iowa’s state highways transferred to cities and counties  

 AMES, Iowa – A bill signed Friday, May 23 by Governor Vilsack will transfer approximately 700 miles of state highway to the jurisdiction of local cities and counties.  The transfers will occur July 1, 2003.  A few days later the state route signs will come down and eventually be replaced with county or street signs.

 Senate File 451 addressed issues associated with an ever-changing road system in Iowa. Since the introduction of hard-surfaced roads in the state, many changes have occurred in the primary function and demands of certain highways.

 Iowa’s public road system consists of over 113,000 miles of highways, roads and streets.  These roads are the responsibility of the Iowa Department of Transportation, 99 counties and 950 cities.

The Iowa DOT has responsibility over the primary road system, which consists of the Interstate and numbered Iowa and U.S. routes.  The 99 counties have jurisdiction over the secondary road system, which includes all other non-primary public roads outside of city corporate limits.  Cities have responsibility over the streets within their corporate limits that are not primary roads.  All three levels of government play a critical role in serving Iowa’s transportation needs.

 Over the years, the function of portions of the state’s primary road system changed.  Routes once designed to serve statewide or interstate mobility needs evolved into serving largely the transportation needs of local residents.  Despite these changes, responsibility for maintaining these routes remained with the state, when in fact they were more appropriately classified as county roads or city streets. 

Senate File 451 has resolved this inappropriate classification issue by facilitating a transfer of the legal ownership of these roadway segments to the appropriate city or county jurisdiction. 

 Once the transfer occurs, responsibility and decisions regarding maintenance and improvements to these roadways and structures will be made by local officials where they can be accomplished more efficiently.  A Transfer of Jurisdiction Fund was established in the law.  Over a period of ten years, receipts will be used to compensate local jurisdictions that assume jurisdiction of these roads and streets. 

 Posted on the Iowa DOT’s Web site is a listing of all routes being transferred, as well as a state map designating the roadways.   (Note:  The map is in Adobe Acrobat^(TM) (PDF) format.)

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