Spate of truck crashes spur changes to I-80 in Iowa

The Iowa Dept. of Transportation plans to make changes to Interstate 80 between Iowa City and Coralville to prevent a repeat of last week’s spate of semi accidents in that stretch of highway, according to an Iowa City Patch report.

In a press release, the DOT announced plans to install signs telling trucks to use the left lane, which is 12 feet wide and has a paved shoulder. The DOT said it will also install a rock shoulder to give drivers that drift off the road a better chance at recovery.
DOT officials said they believe speed and not drivers being unaware of their surroundings are causing the frequent truck accidents on the Interstate.

There were three semi crashes on the stretch of highway just last week. On Wednesday, a semi slid off the road and spilled 200 gals. of herbicides it was hauling into the nearby ditch, slowing traffic for hours as emergency workers worked to clean the wreckage and capture the leaked chemicals. There were two other accidents, another on Wednesday and one on Friday, where trucks slid off the highway and crashed.