Ethanol may be harming roads
Dean Treftz - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: Metro
Rural roads in eastern Iowa are developing jostling ruts and becoming treacherous for drivers largely thanks to this winter's ice and snow. But an unlikely culprit may also be contributing - renewable energy.
Iowa's rural roads have been bearing the brunt of heavier loads traveling year-round on routes that previously had seen little traffic, especially outside harvest season. This shift in hauling patterns can be attributed in part to farmers increasingly transporting their yields to renewable fuel plants.
"When you look at it and you look at the cost of putting the plant in there, you don't think about all the truck traffic and how it can wear down - especially county - roads," said Chad Hart, who heads the biorenewables policy division at Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development.
Previously, farmers would unload their harvest at the local grain elevator, where it would usually be shipped out in rail cars.
"As time goes on, you see the evidence of [ethanol-related wear] a lot more in a lot more places," said Dan Waid, the county engineer for Hamilton County, which has one ethanol plant; there are several in neighboring counties. "We've been trying to cover more area with the same amount [of money]."
Now, with grains increasingly going to ethanol and biodiesel plants, traffic patterns for those heavy loads have become less centralized and harder on the nearly 90,000 miles of county-run rural roads in Iowa, which were often built for less stress.
"If you think back before ethanol was spread well across the Iowa landscape … basically, we saw the heavy traffic was around autumn," Hart said. "Now, with ethanol, you have a much more constant stream of trucks."
Because of plants' limited storage capacity, farmers hold on to their corn or keep it in storage facilities and send a steady stream of the previous fall's harvest to plants, Hart said. This can lead to problems for road-construction crews who want to close roads.
Iowa's rural roads have been bearing the brunt of heavier loads traveling year-round on routes that previously had seen little traffic, especially outside harvest season. This shift in hauling patterns can be attributed in part to farmers increasingly transporting their yields to renewable fuel plants.
"When you look at it and you look at the cost of putting the plant in there, you don't think about all the truck traffic and how it can wear down - especially county - roads," said Chad Hart, who heads the biorenewables policy division at Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development.
Previously, farmers would unload their harvest at the local grain elevator, where it would usually be shipped out in rail cars.
"As time goes on, you see the evidence of [ethanol-related wear] a lot more in a lot more places," said Dan Waid, the county engineer for Hamilton County, which has one ethanol plant; there are several in neighboring counties. "We've been trying to cover more area with the same amount [of money]."
Now, with grains increasingly going to ethanol and biodiesel plants, traffic patterns for those heavy loads have become less centralized and harder on the nearly 90,000 miles of county-run rural roads in Iowa, which were often built for less stress.
"If you think back before ethanol was spread well across the Iowa landscape … basically, we saw the heavy traffic was around autumn," Hart said. "Now, with ethanol, you have a much more constant stream of trucks."
Because of plants' limited storage capacity, farmers hold on to their corn or keep it in storage facilities and send a steady stream of the previous fall's harvest to plants, Hart said. This can lead to problems for road-construction crews who want to close roads.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
cseeley
ceseeley
posted 3/17/08 @ 7:31 AM CST
Would more railroad transportation of these products help?
Lars Dunn
posted 3/19/08 @ 3:56 PM CST
What a bunch of ridiculous, false statements made by people who, if jumping to conclusions weren't allowed, would never arrive at one. Of course roads and infrastructure are considered when building any kind of manufacturing facility. (Continued…)
Post a Comment