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Jefferson County announces guidelines for Pleasant Plain Road insurance claims
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – Jefferson County has issued new guidelines for motorists who need to get their cars cleaned from the sticky asphalt on Pleasant Plain Road.
Jefferson County Engineer DeWayne Heintz told the Union that those who need to clean their vehicles but who have not done so yet to notify the county. Once a resident notifies the county of damage, the county will turn the claim over to its insurance company.
“We apologize, again, for this situation,” Heintz said, referring to the chip and seal poured on Pleasant Plain Road June 12-13 that became sticky due to the rain that weekend. Once the engineer’s office learned that the oil, rock and asphalt mixture was sticking to cars, they altered the mixture before doing the chip and seal on Douds Road, and agreed to clean residents’ cars for free.
Melissa Fowler, office manager at Jefferson County Secondary Roads, said her office had cleaned over 90 cars as of Friday, July 25. She said she didn’t know how many people had gotten their cars cleaned elsewhere, but the engineer’s office has promised to pay for these cleanings as well.
Fowler said she learned from Iowa Communities Assurance Pool that individuals have two years to submit a claim from the date of their loss, that is, the date they incurred damage to their vehicle.
Heintz said Douds Road was the only road treated after Pleasant Plain Road, and the chip and seal mix on Douds Road has performed as he expected.
“We have received complaints about the ‘gravel’ look and ride of the surface,” he said. “We were trying to achieve the look of an asphalt pavement with the process we were using. 110th Street and 218th Boulevard east of Lockridge turned out as we hoped.”
Heintz said that, on the positive side, his office has received very few calls about windshield damage from the fresh pourings. To reduce this danger further, the county board of supervisors agreed to lower speed limits on three of the chip and seal roads - Pleasant Plain Road, Douds Road and 110th Street – from 55 mph to 45 mph from late June through Sept. 1. Heintz said he hopes the project will be wrapped up by mid-September.
[Editor’s note: This story had been updated to reflect new information obtained since its online publication on Friday, July 25.]
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
