Administrators at the Iowa Department of Transportation says they are cutting the budget for the next fiscal year in part with savings in building construction and equipment. The DOT’s Melissa Gillette says the big construction project is a new maintenance garage in Alton.
Gillette told the Transportation Commission the new garage will provide much more space.
She says the budget is four-point-nine million dollars less than the last new garage the DOT built. Gillette says they are making some changes that will allow the DOT to save millions of dollars in the budget for the equipment that is maintained at the state garages.
Gillette says they started looking at their plow configurations after the pandemic and have dramatically reduced them to help save costs.
She says the has helped with the supply chain issues as they don’t need as many different types of truck setups. Gillette says they cut 33 light vehicles from their fleet and the total equipment savings will be $14.6 million.
Story courtesy of media partner Radio Iowa
