Highway 92 reopens near Ainsworth after delays

AINSWORTH — A stretch of Iowa Highway 92 closed since mid-March has reopened, letting drivers return to their normal commutes between much of Washington County and Columbus Junction.

Contractors from C.J. Moyna spent the last several months on a massive grading and repavement project for the road, where they flattened much of the slope before removing and replacing numerous drainage systems and all of the pavement.

C.J. Moyna Partial Owner Adam Kos characterized the changes as a “face-lift” for the popular commuter route.

“Some of the original paving that was underneath the asphalt, the original concrete, was back from the ‘30s,” he said. “We live in a climate where there’s a lot of freeze-thaw, and with that constant freeze-thaw cycle, every road section kind of has a pavement life expectancy. There’s some things the DOT can do to try to extend the life of the pavement … but at some point, it’s time for the road to get a face-lift.”

Iowa DOT Resident Construction Engineer Christy VanBuskirk said the changes would improve safety in the area. The stretch of highway now has wider, 12-foot lanes, plus centerline rumble strips, a five-foot paved shoulder, four-foot gravel shoulder, and gentler slopes to reduce the odds of cars overturning if they leave the road.

The work also gutted antiquated drainage systems beneath the pavement, replacing them with more modern setups, and reinforced the banks of a stream by the roadside.

“It’s going to be a smoother ride, first of all,” VanBuskirk said. “And what we have out there now is safe enough to pull over on, without being in traffic. So it’s an overall safer situation, both traveling down the road and pulling off.

Highway 92 first closed for construction in March, and was expected to reopen in October. But those involved said a handful of unexpected issues — from weather delays to discoveries of previously unrecorded reinforced steel and a large subdrain beneath the pavement — pushed things back.

  Buy Photo

The roadway finally reopened last week, according to an announcement from the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office, almost two months later than planned.

A detour from the area during construction took drivers north to Washington County Road G36, increasing traffic on the rural route and lengthening everyday commutes for many in the area who work on one side of the Washington-Louisa county line, but live on the other.

Washington County Engineer Jacob Thorius said he was glad to see construction finished.

“We appreciate the DOT working to improve roads in the area and this particular project will help make travel between Columbus Junction and Ainsworth safer,” he wrote in an email. “With (Highway) 92 opening back up, it will take extra traffic off of G36 east of (Highway) 218, which will limit the additional wear and tear that stretch of road has been experiencing.”

That said, travelers between Columbus Junction and Washington County can expect another disruption to their commute starting in April or March of 2025. The recently completed construction was only the first of two phases for a roughly $25 million project, funded by state and federal dollars.

Next year, the second phase will see the same contractors pick up where they left off, regrading and repaving the road all the way up to Second Street in Columbus Junction. That work will also close the road to traffic as well, though a new detour route will take drivers south, through Columbus City and part of Cotter, instead of bringing them all the way north to G36.

While it will involve a shorter stretch of the highway, VanBuskirk said she expected the second phase to take about as long as the first.

“After some of the challenges we had this year, I’m going to be very conservative and say November or December,” she said when asked about the estimated end of that construction. “We had a great contractor and they threw a lot at it to make sure that road was open this season, because that was the goal … you just never know sometimes, what you’re going to find until you start digging.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com