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Petition launched to fix deadly crossing

Sheriff: local officials need to push state to fix county’s most dangerous intersection

By Kate Hayden | khayden@charlescitypress.com

The recent death of motorcyclist Thomas “T.J.” Houdek, 23, has sparked an online petition asking state officials to re-visit a troubled intersection.

A memorial service for Thomas John "TJ" Houdek, 23, of Charles City, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Messiah Lutheran Church in Charles City.
A memorial service for Thomas John “TJ” Houdek, 23, of Charles City, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Messiah Lutheran Church in Charles City.

The Change.org petition by Travis-Jesse Wiemann of Floyd asks officials to re-design the Highway 218 intersection into an overpass. By Wednesday afternoon, the petition had 1,963 signatures, with emotional comments left from community members, emergency dispatchers and first responders who frequent the intersection.

“I had to hold a semi driver in my arms when he realized the biker he had hit that that pulled out in front of him was killed,” Justin Carr of Arlington, Iowa, wrote. “Dangerous is a word to describe potential danger. This intersection is no longer dangerous; it is deadly.”

“As a Deputy Sheriff in this county for the last 10 years I can’t begin to estimate the number of crashes I have covered at this intersection,” Benjamin Kostka of Charles City wrote. “It’s never a surprise anymore when we get paged to yet another accident at this location.

What is a surprise, however, is the lack of action taken by the State.”

Floyd County Sheriff Rick Lynch has been surprised by the risky design since it opened, he said. Between a high volume of traffic over the years and entrances that leave semi trailers and vehicles susceptible to blind spots, the scene is very familiar to first responders.

“That’s the most dangerous intersection we have in Floyd County,” Lynch said. “We’ve seen the near misses … we’ve had semis run over the top of people’s cars.”

Car engines crushed by semis, a motorcyclist who slid with his bike under a trailer, and semis pulling out in front of emergency vehicles — some of the most drastic scenes Lynch has responded to have occurred at the intersection.

Lynch, who was the county sheriff in the early 2000s when the Avenue of the Saints/Highway 218 first opened, saw immediate problems with a higher traffic numbers than the state Department of Transportation estimated.

“I could not believe you have two U.S. highways (Highway 218 and Highway 18), and you don’t put in an overpass,” he said.

The DOT started hosting meetings over the 218 corridor almost 10 years ago, Lynch said, but said the earliest change would take 15 years. Since then, the state has made two fixes on the intersection, which Lynch said has helped spread out congestion but also created confusion on which drivers have the right-of-way.

“I just quit going to those meetings,” he said. “It’s not in their plan to fix it today or tomorrow, it’s going to come down to our county and state government representatives. It’s not a law enforcement matter. We deal with it, but it comes down to your county and state government going to your state people and DOT and saying, ‘What are we going to do here?’”

The incoming Love’s Travel Stop near 218 Fuel Expressway likely has little to do with the traffic, Lynch said.

The property surrounding the area does limit where the state can place an overpass. The DOT would have to work around a cemetery, a pond and the two truck stops in order to place a new overpass. But the biggest obstacle in Lynch’s mind is money, which he said has blocked action for a long time in the area.

“We’ve been dealing with that intersection for how many years now, let’s see if (Love’s) does create any more confusion,” Lynch said.

It’s also not really a speeding problem, Lynch said. Most random spot checks that county deputies do find traffic driving a normal 65-70 mph range. Lynch estimates the majority of near-misses and collisions happen when vehicles are turning into Floyd, out to Mason City or Charles City, or crossing the median toward the ethanol plant.

“It’s just that busy, and it’s confusing to people who gets to go first,” he said. “Our luck’s going to run out sometime, and I wish the state will realize that. People have just got to be really aware out there.”

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