County Board Approves 35 MPH Speed Limit On Portion Of 195th Street

Following the recommendation of Mills County Engineer Jacob Ferro, the Mills County Board Of Supervisors passed two motions last week to slow down traffic and increase public safety along two roads in the northern part of the county where dirt is being hauled to the Google data center site in Pottawattamie County.

County officials have been discussing public safety concerns over the past month about trucks hauling dirt fon 195th Street from an old quarry to the Google site. Residents and motorists have complained to the county engineer and sheriff’s office about the trucks and dirt that’s being left on the road, creating hazardous driving conditions. Mills County Sheriff Greg Schultz confirmed that multiple collisions had taken place on 195th  Street in recent weeks, including a severe injury accident.

At last week’s meeting, supervisors approved a motion to reduce the speed limit from 55 miles per hour to 35 miles per for 750 feet to both the north and the south of the quarry site entrance on 195th Street.

“So, this first one is on the quarry or dirt road entry site on 195th Street and we’re going to go 750 feet to the north and to the south, making it 35 miles an hour,” said Ferro. “Then we will put ‘speed reduction ahead,’ where it goes from 55 to 35, and then beyond the 35, we’ll put a 55 sign up, bringing the traffic back up to the 55 miles per hour.”

Ferro noted that consideration was given to make the entire stretch of the dirt hauling route 35 mph on 195th Street.“We think that’s just impractical, because people are going to slow down on that site, then start to see no signs and be back up to 55,” said Ferro. “Eventually, they’re going to start bringing that closer and closer to the entry site and then not even slowing down a little bit.”

Ferro said the county will install signs but seek reimbursement from the company involved in the project.

The supervisors also passed a motion for reducing speed to 35 mph to address a similar situation involving trucks coming from a dirt extraction site and entering 221st Street from Barrus Road.

“Same situation here, just different location. – 750 feet north and south of intersection,” said Ferro. “Basically, the trucks when they pull out, they’re kind of slow going, so you slow down traffic so they’re not having to slam on their brakes and make it overall safer. So, this also is coming out of the traffic study we have done and this is one of the recommendations as well.”