Ice storm costs Iowa more than $2 million in road maintenance

The Iowa Department of Transportation spent more than $2 million during the state's bout with ice and sleet this week.

According to the DOT's recently unveiled winter cost calculator, the state spent more than $2.15 million - about $1.4 million on materials, nearly $395,000 on labor and more than $337,000 on equipment - between noon Sunday and noon Tuesday.

The department applied more than 36 million pounds of salt on Iowa roads and logged 9,325 labor hours in the same time frame, according to the calculator.

Department costs only apply to state-owned roads and vary from county to county. Linn County efforts cost the state more than $48,000, while Johnson County came in at about $27,000.

The DOT last week debuted the winter cost calculator - http://smgs.us/3kbt - which can be used to see costs while focusing on specific municipalities or areas in the state.

The calculator uses data from vehicle location systems on state vehicles, which is processed in real time and updated every 15 minutes.

'Most people don't have an understanding of what it costs to maintain Iowa's roadways,” DOT spokeswoman Andrea Henry said in a Friday news release. 'This tool allows people to have a better understanding of the resources necessary to keep their roadways safe and allows us to have conversations about the level of service the Iowa DOT can provide within the amount of money budgeted for maintenance activities.”

Total cost on state road maintenance by county

Linn: $48,261

Johnson: $27,296

Cedar: $17,968

Jones: $25,558

Delaware: $30,396

Buchanan: $26,449

Benton: $22,954

Iowa: $26,449

Black Hawk: $50,290

Data is based on the Iowa DOT winter cost calculator for noon Sunday to noon Tuesday

l Comments: (319) 339-3175; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com