Council Bluffs Police keep an eye out for speeders on frontage road

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) - A semi-trailer truck tipped over shutting down I-29 in Council Bluffs for about an hour early Tuesday morning.

It happened around 6:30 a.m. at the intersection of 9th Avenue.

This is right in the middle of the frontage road that detours around a massive construction project on the interstate. But there are other problems in the area.

Council Bluffs police have been keeping a close eye on drivers as they navigate the detour around the construction zone.

There have been a lot of speeders here.

“Coming off the interstate and kind of coming over to this area it drops from 65 to 45 to 35 and it just gets slower and slower.”

Jake Pachunka lives in Omaha but works in Council Bluffs. He drives this route every day, so he adheres to the posted speed limits.

As for other drivers...

“Yeah...yeah, constantly and it’s always like people don’t notice it right away, and then it kind of causes road rage a little bit because the speed drops so quick.”

And there are stop lights at intersections like 9th Avenue.

Even though all of this is clearly marked, Bluffs police Lieutenant Chad Geer said that hasn’t stopped some drivers from well exceeding the speed limit.

“Most of them were over 60 miles an hour...the top speed was 80. 80 in a 35,” he said.

Bluffs police have been conducting daily monitoring of the frontage roads.

They issued 37 tickets on one day in May. On July 14th that number nearly doubled to 70 tickets.

Work is about halfway done on the three-year interstate project, so drivers shouldn’t expect increases in speed limits any time soon.

So, in the meantime, Pachunka said, “Just be aware that the speeds around going to change drastically and just try to keep your eyes peeled for those speed limit signs because they’re out here watching.”

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