DOT road project offers county chance to place fillets

MARENGO — The Iowa Department of Transportation will be repaving Highway 149 west of Parnell and putting shoulders on the road to Williamsburg, giving Iowa County the chance to add fillets along the route.

Iowa County Engineer Nick Amelon told County Supervisors in December that the fillets would be nice, but they aren’t a necessity.

If the county is looking for ways to cut expenses, it may not want to pursue this project, Amelon said.

The DOT project will cover 149 west of Parnell where the road heads to North English, said Amelon. It’s the only section that hasn’t been done yet.

Then the DOT will turn north to Williamsburg and add shoulders in 2027.

“I’m guessing it might be around $10,000 per fillet.” Amelon said. Two of the areas DOT marked for fillets are already seal coated, said Amelon, so he’s not sure he wants to put fillets on those.

The county might also have to replace culverts if fillets go over them, said Amelon. All those roads are “super wide,” Amelon said, so they could be a little expensive.

“We’ve done this everywhere else,” said Amelon — on Highway 151, Highway 6, the south part of 149. It’s common for the Secondary Roads Department to add fillets when they pave roads.

But the construction would have to be paid for by local funds. “If we are trying to cut expenses,” said Amelon, “they are not a must.”

If it were a safety issue, Amelon would recommend occurring the expense, he said.

“For sure, like on highway 6 when we did them, that was safety,” said Amelon. But the roads in question have good sight distance, he said.

DOT will pay for first 10 feet, said Amelon. That’s what they have now.

The county has added fillets in the past, but because of the amount of money in question, Amelon thought the county might skip it this time.

Supervisor Abby Maas said she’d rather use the money on gravel.

Supervisor Kevin Heitshusen asked if the county could add some fillets and not add them in other places.

Amelon said that’s an option. The county could also cut the length, which would save some money. In either case, the county would have to make sure it doesn’t have to replace culverts, because that would greatly increase the cost.

“I’d rather see some of our guys get raises,” said Amelon.

“I would say If we do anything ,we’d go shorter just to try to save a little bit of money,” said Amelon.

The fillets would make things a little better for the road graders, Amelon said. They like it. But in this spot traffic has good sight distance, so it’s not a safety issue.

“Do we want to spend 40 grand on something that’s nice or, if it’s not a necessity, cut it out?” Amelon asked.

Supervisors said they would revisit the question at a future meeting.