5 questions with Iowa DOT’s Trombino

DES MOINES - After nearly six years leading the Iowa Department of Transportation - a government agency that affects drivers, farmers and merchants every day with its decisions - Paul Trombino III is leaving.

Trombino, 50, said it was time for a new chapter in his career, but that he didn't feel comfortable job hunting while still in the public position.

His last day is Monday. Before he leaves, he spent time answering some questions from The Gazette, reflecting on the agency's past and offering thoughts on some issues important to the Corridor.

Q: What is the future of traffic cameras in Iowa?

A: 'There's been a lot of discussion on the subject. My perspective has always been that any time there is a safety issue on the system, we should do a proper analysis and that's what was not being done. There was no analysis.

'Typically there is never just one safety counter measure. I'm not trying to say that traffic cameras can never be a safety counter measure. They can. We were saying do a proper safety analysis.

'I think unfortunately in the state there were a lot of decisions made based on revenue, not based on safety, and hence why we have an ongoing lawsuit in this regard.

'We didn't ask for all to be removed, but some because there was clearly no value being derived from them at all. The decision was revenue.”

Q: The Legislature enacted a 10-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase in March 2015, generating $215 million more for the road use tax fund. What has been the impact of the increase and of more federal resources?

A: 'The condition improvement that people will see will be significant. They want the system preserved, maintained and modernized. They want us to be tactical. You can't have capacity everywhere, just where it's needed.”

(Trombino also noted the five-year federal transportation bill increases Iowa's share by up to 2 percent with an $800 million boost that takes Iowa's program from $2.7 billion to $3.5 billion.)

'That's a 30 percent increase in the program. That's a phenomenal thing for us.”

Q: Iowa has embarked on a system of helping businesses and industries manage and handle freight. Is that unique?

A: 'We started in late 2012, early 2013. It was an idea I pitched to the governor and lieutenant governor. We partnered with the Iowa Economic Development Authority to do a supply chain design and network optimization when moving the products with reliability, cost and type of load - how they move what - and those are the key ingredients.”

(Trombino said the focus was on what commodities are moved in Iowa and where they go - either to domestic markets in other states or to international agriculture and manufacturing export markets via truck, rail, barge, air and ocean. The emphasis was to remove points of constraint by modeling the movement of all commodities using a three-digit Zip code in roughly 3,140 counties in the United States and almost 50 foreign countries where Iowa products go.)

'What that did is it allowed us to really visualize the system differently. We started to really get to see how products move and then what that helps for us is we can better understand product demand, much less production. The data that we were able to collect is very rich and robust. ... The reality is all of our products move from one mode to another - they all require highway, rail and water, on the freight side those are the key ingredients for us. And the more we can understand that, the more we can make better improvements that are very cost effective and ultimately show a rate of return to businesses with the goal of reducing freight costs overall.”

Q: Has Iowa's passenger rail window of opportunity closed?

A: 'No, I don't really view that as closed. We will finish next year getting through 30 percent of the plan. We've been working to get the project to Iowa City. It's an 80-20 split with the federal government. Illinois is moving ahead with plans to connect to the Quad Cities. If they don't get to Quad Cities, it doesn't ever give us a chance to get to Iowa City.

'They have work to do there, but it doesn't close the door. It leaves the opportunity open ultimately for the future to eventually connect to Iowa City. That would likely be under some future new program. The mechanics are in place if they get the agreements done.”

Q: What challenges did you face when you started as Iowa DOT director and where do you see things have improved during your tenure?

A: 'We've really focused on the customer, giving people convenience and choice and that's across all areas - motor vehicle and driver's license services, commercial services and permits, we really opened up the doorway to allow people to get those services when they choose and at their convenience.

'That's had a tremendous benefit.”