Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-09-22
STATE HIGHWAY BOARD TURNS
DOWN SUPERVISORS SCHEME
AND SUGGESTS ANOTHER.
PROPOSES COUNTY SHOULD
REBUILD ROAD NEAR RIVER
Commission Suggests That County Cut
New River Channel, Relocate Road.
and Grade It Above High Water
Mark-WiiI Not Approve Plan to
Pave Roadway.

The Iowa state highway commission
pervisors q plan of permanently i'm
proving that part of the East MAR
street road near the Iowa river tha
is subject to overflow and that ha:
mission refused to give its approval t
the supervisors plan to pave two small
stretches of this road and grade thu
j rest. Instead 1t has suggested wha
its engineers say is probably the only
practicable way of rebuilding this roa6
to put it up out of the way of FLOOD
water in the Iowa river valley.
/ The board has not yet accepted the
suggestion, and it may be years before
{ it will do so. The plan of the COM
mission would require an outlay OF
many thousands.
Disapprove Boards Plan.
The plan OF the supervisors was tc
| pave two stretches of this road where
| it was lowest. These stretches were
! 10 and 140 feet long, and the board
| proposed to pave a siXteen-foot road
way and down three feet on each bank,
! with concrete. 1t further proposed to
| grade up the rest of the road TO a
| height Of from about one to two feet
! thus leaving the paved stretches for
| flood wate- ways over which the wa
ter would flow.
| Before receiving the dsapproval OF
/ the commission the county had started
! grading and had finished most of this
work. This weeks freshet came along
! and washed away part of the freshly
| moved earth.
Would Cut New Channel.
| Last year engineers of the commits
sion inspected this road and recently
c. E. Coykendal. district engineer of
the commission, went over it. From
these inspections the commission rec
ognizes this highway thru the low
ground presents probably the most diff
fcult road building project in the
/ county.
The plan proposed by the commits
sion includes cutting a new channel
for the Iowa river. strengthening and
grading higher the road. building g
large bridge across the new river chan
mel and eliminating all of the old
| bridges.
! Cut Mile Out Of River.
The commission suggests that new
channel be cut from the river short
/ distance west of the Main street bridge
almost due south to the river short
distance above the Chicago Great
Western bridge. The new channel
would be. roughly speaking, about a
quarter of a mile long. II would turn
the water GU. Of about three quarters
of a mile of the old and very crooked
channel.
The proposed channel would cross
t1e East Main street road thru the
BAYOU under the first bridge beyond
/ whore the road turns and starts north
east to the river. At this bayou the
! proposal l., 10 build bridge of two OF
three 1Gc-foot spans.
Grade Road Above Water.
| The new channel would give direct
and straight channel for the water
| which now follows a tortuous course
I in rather restricted channel which
is not ample to carry the flood water
that therefore spreads out over th'
river valley. The old channel woulc
be left unobstructed and would. it K
believed, carry the overflow at times o
freshets.
The commission proposes that thu
county should relocate the road ant
i s,r;:igfltsT 4 from where 1t turns to-
ward The northeast to the present rive
bridges This revision would remove
the numerous bends and. the waite
being carried thru new river channei
the several bayou bridges now In tn
road could be removed. The commits
sion suggests that the new road b.
graded high enough to put the roadwa.
above high water mark.