To the editor:
My name is Grace Chapman, and I am writing you today on behalf of my grandfather, Jack Chapman, 87, who was cruelly and carelessly killed due to the state of Iowa’s negligence regarding the unsafe driving conditions on U.S. Highway 169 leading south out of Adel.
My grandfather and grandmother were in a horrific car accident on July 17, 2024, on U.S. Highway 169 while en route to pick up a pizza. In this wreck, my grandparents were rear-ended and were completely not at fault.
I will set the scene for those unfamiliar with Adel. Adel’s population has doubled since 2010, and because of this, one of our throughways, U.S. Highway 169 — initially constructed in 1931 as a split-lane highway with no traffic lights or turning lanes for connecting intersections between Adel and De Soto — is no longer safe in its original condition.
When I was growing up, U.S. Highway 169 from Adel to De Soto was primarily empty, with little to see other than farmland. Today most of this land is highly developed, with residential communities and businesses along our highway and no frontage roads. The uptick in traffic on this road is widely known and discussed throughout our community.
The many connecting intersections that now exist on U.S. Highway 169 are hazardous without the addition of turning lanes when the speed limit is 55 mph, and the road has many hills, negatively impacting road visibility. The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) has callously commented that they would not address these traffic concerns until a fatality occurred. Unfortunately, that person is my beloved grandfather.
The most concerning aspect of this issue is that our local high school, Adel-De Soto-Minburn, is on Nile Kinnick Drive, which turns into U.S. Highway 169 heading south out of Adel. Many young and inexperienced drivers depend on this road to get to and from schooling and sporting events.
We also have a popular local daycare, a Casey’s gas station, a Unity Point of Iowa Clinic and a memory care clinic currently being developed along this busy stretch of U.S. Highway 169.
We demand that the Iowa DOT either lower the speed limit to 35 mph for the mile following our high school heading south toward De Soto with proper turning lanes, or add a frontage road with traffic lights to enter onto U.S. Highway 169 from the surrounding businesses and residential roads.
Jack Chapman was a U.S. veteran who tirelessly cared for his community, from serving on Adel’s city council to helping honor hundreds of fellow veterans in the Honor Guard. As I hold Jack’s distraught wife, who is entirely beside herself, I beg you to honor Jack’s memory by signing and sharing our petition.
We are devastated by what could have easily been prevented had the Iowa DOT done its job. Please do not let this happen to another member of our beloved community.
Grace Chapman and the Chapman family
Adel
Where do I sign? That road has been terrible for decades. Your grandpa was a wonderful man who I knew my whole life. Sue the pants off the state. It is the only language they understand.
Please accept my sincere condolences because my mother at 58 was killed in a very similar manner in a very similar Highway by 16 year old coming out of school in Illinois several years ago. It’s still a source of much pain for our family so I can imagine what your family is going through. I hope and pray that the Iowa DOT will do for you what the Illinois DOT still hasn’t done for us. Prayers, JEL