State of Iowa road construction crews will be out in force this summer, resurfacing, repaving and tarring without the feathers.

For the past few weeks, roads leading to and from Ames have been overtaken by construction workers. Well-traveled venues such as Interstate 35 and U.S. Highway 30 have been undergoing some serious maintenance work, and officials say it will only get worse as summer approaches.

Jerry Dickinson, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Transportation, said the principle area that will affect students is an 8-mile stretch of I-35 south of Ames, where workers are patching the road in preparation for resurfacing. “They’ll reduce the interstate to one lane per direction at a time.”

On the interstate from Ankeny to Des Moines, “There’s resurfacing underway that involves lane closures,” he said. Work is also being done on the combined stretch of I-35 and I-80 near Des Moines, but “that’s primarily nighttime work, so it doesn’t affect daytime traffic.”

U.S. Highway 30 is due for some maintenance work this summer as well. Dickinson said that in June and July the stretch of highway from the Skunk River Bridge east to I-35 will be resurfaced, reducing the road to one lane per direction.

Dickinson had some advice for students about how to make the construction less of a hassle. “Leave early and don’t be in a hurry,” he said. “If you can find another route, that’s the best thing to do.”

Dickinson advised avoiding high-traffic times.

He said the roads are busiest during the summer on Friday afternoons and weekends.

If a construction zone is unavoidable, the most important thing drivers can do is to pay attention to the traffic around them, Dickinson said. He said that three-quarters of accidents that occur in work zones are cases of drivers rear-ending each other, so it is important to pay attention.

Dickinson warned that drivers can get quite a hefty ticket if they are pulled over in a construction zone. The fines for moving violations, such as speeding and following too closely, double in construction zones.

Travelers should check the Internet first, Dickinson said. The Iowa DOT lists all construction projects on all state roads on its World Wide Web page: http://www.state.ia.us/government/dot/roadcons.htm.