Supervisors reclassify Indian Street to a Level B road

Despite pushback from nearby property owners, the Jasper County Board of Supervisors moved forward with the reclassification of Indian Street.

Following the third consecutive public hearing discussing the matter on Jan. 28, supervisors approved the reclassification in a unanimous vote after considerable debate with property owner Skyler Morris. By reclassifying the street from a Level A road to a Level B road, it ensures the roadway will receive little maintenance.

Jasper County Engineer Michael Frietsch said the affected section of Indian Street starts 0.8 miles south of North 67th Avenue East, or roughly south of Mariposa Park, and then it heads east-southeast toward Immigrant Avenue. Altogether, this section of Indian Street is about 0.56 miles in length.

In the past there was an open bridge over Alloway Creek in that section, but Frietsch said that bridge has since been removed and there are no plans to replace it. For several years this section of Indian Street has more or less been treated as a Level B road and has not received an abundance of maintenance.

However, Morris argued in favor of keeping Indian Street a Level A road and replacing the bridge over Alloway Creek. He and his family would like some more time to prepare, and he did not feel the county adequately communicated its intentions with them. Morris also offered some history about the road.

“It was originally a stagecoach road and they converted it to a road that everybody could use,” he said. “So we would like some time. We were never sent any letters, any certified letters … We’re farm-to-market, and there are laws regarding this. We pay taxes and we feel this is taking away our rights.”

Supervisor Brandon Talsma later confirmed with Frietsch that this section of Indian Street was not actually a farm-to-market route. Still, Morris argued a Level B road would pose a hazard for cattle trailers and other farm equipment to get stuck or worse when the surface is rutted or muddied.

“With gravel and blading, it would be easier for checking and transporting cows and make it safer,” Morris said. “In our experience, dead end country roads tend to invite people to congregate and cause trouble, while maintained roads with through traffic would naturally discourage and disperse crowds.”

Morris also argued the reclassification could devalue nearby homes and other rural properties. He argued the recent improvements to Mariposa Park should make the continued maintenance of Indian Street a priority. Morris said the bridge was rebuilt in the 1980s and should be replaced to last 40 years or more.

The county engineer later said the road sees very little traffic to support the replacement of the bridge over Alloway Creek. Talsma was firm the bridge would not be replaced. Jasper County has some of the most structurally deficient bridges in the state and it needs to prioritize bridges with higher traffic volumes.

If Indian Street were to become a Level C road, the engineer estimated a pipe culvert structure could be constructed to replace the bridge for about $50,000. Otherwise, as a Level A road, it is likely a bridge project could cost more than $300,000 or so. The county does not see the bridge as a high priority.

“We have 10 bridges a year going out,” Talsma said. “We don’t have money in our budget to replace 10 bridges a year. We can replace five. So we have to look at every single year what five we’re going to do, and we have to prioritize which ones are going to be done. We don’t like it. We don’t relish it.”

After the second public hearing, Frietsch told Newton News these kinds of cases are likely to become more common in the future. Secondary roads identified about 300 miles of county roadways that should be reclassified, which could cut down the amount of maintenance those roads would receive.