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DOT releases speed camera review

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October 1st, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-O-T has released its review of speed cameras under new rules created by the state legislature. Cities and counties had to apply to the D-O-T and show the camera is placed in an area due to the number and severity of traffic accidents there. There were 139 requests and only 11 were approved.

That includes four in Cedar Rapids, and Davenport, and one each in Des Moines, Leclaire, and Marshalltown.

(Stock photo via Canva)

The D-O-T also denied 66 locations where cities wanted mobile speed cameras but approved 143 mobile locations in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Marion, Muscatine, Sioux City, and Waterloo.

A mayor of a city that the Iowa Department of Transportation decided couldn’t continue using speed cameras is responding. Prairie City mayor Chad Alleger says the denial of their three fixed cameras is a surprise because the cameras reduced speeding near schools.

The DOT says a seven-member panel made the decisions based on the law, which says cameras can be approved if they’re appropriate, necessary, and the least restrictive way to address traffic safety at those locations. Mayor Alleger believes they made a good case to keep the cameras.