NEWTON, Iowa [KCCI] — Speed cameras are coming to Newton and will be set up on I-80. In a city council meeting on Monday, council members voted unanimously to move forward with the speed camera project. Road signs along I-80 mark the road as a safety corridor. The city claims the stretch of interstate is in the top 1% of all crashes over the last five years. The city says its police and fire departments respond to an average of 210 incidents and crashes.Other cities that have implemented similar speed cameras have seen a massive increase in revenue. Prairie City’s new cameras in town and on Highway 163 collected $1.7 million for the city in fiscal year 2022.

The Iowa DOT’s website shows on average I-80 at Newton sees more than three times the amount of traffic that drives by Prairie City, according to their last traffic count conducted in 2022. The city of Newton says it could take at least six months of setup before their cameras are operational. After they’re turned on, the city says that for the first 30 days, the cameras will only issue warnings.

The city says revenue collected from the cameras will only be used to pay employees to work the camera, buy public safety vehicles and equipment for the Newton Police and Fire Departments and fund a one-time street improvement project. The state legislature is considering a bill that would ban speed cameras across Iowa, some have been trying to pass the bill for seven years.

Some Senate Republicans are hopeful this year could be the year. The Newton City Council was advised that if the legislature does end up banning speed cameras, their contract with the speed camera company will be null and void. Newton won’t be the only city along I-80 with speed cameras. Grinnell is also adding cameras and a mobile unit by this spring.

More than a dozen Iowa cities, including Newton and Grinnell, have hired the same Swedish company to run the project — Sensys Gatso.