The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 Monday morning on August 31st to raise the speed limit on Pleasant Plain Road from 45 miles per hour to 55 miles per hour between the Fairfield city limit and 167th Street, amid ongoing safety concerns and two accidents on the road in the past two weeks.
Pleasant Plain Road has a complicated recent history. The county undertook a chip seal project on the road beginning in June 2025, which ran into significant problems after rainstorms saturated the material and created unsafe conditions. The county responded by lowering the speed limit to 45 miles per hour as a safety measure while crews worked to address the ongoing issues throughout this summer.
Supervisors Susie Drish and Lee Dimmitt voted in favor of the change, while Supervisor Joe Ledger cast the dissenting vote. The agenda item had originally proposed raising the limit to 60 miles per hour — in line with most other county roads following a state law change — but the board settled on 55 miles per hour instead, which both Dimmitt and County Engineer DeWayne Heintz noted was the road’s speed limit prior to the chip seal project.
Drish noted that drivers were already ignoring the posted 45 limit. “If you would sit there and clock those people where they can’t see it, none of them are going,” she said. Heintz raised the question of whether 55 made more sense given the volume of turning traffic at Cambridge, noting it would simply restore the road to what it had been before the state law change.
Ledger argued the road should remain at 45 miles per hour, citing safety concerns particularly near 185th Street and the amount of traffic entering and exiting Pleasant Plain Road. He said increasing the limit could create additional risks, especially with grain trucks expected to use the route during the fall. “I’m just looking at the safety concern,” Ledger said. “I’m afraid it’s going to take a fatality out there for people to wake up. They’ve got to drive slower. That’s my concern. I just hope it’s not in my family that’s involved in it.” He said he would have preferred the road stay at 45 through Cambridge and then return to 60 past 167th Street. “Then after you get past Cambridge up there by 167th, then go back to the 60,” he said. “That’s my feelings.”
A local resident who spoke during the discussion argued that if the speed limit was going to be increased at all, it should go to 60 miles per hour to match other roads in the area. “Everything else is 60,” the resident said. “Unless you keep it at 45, you’ve got to go to 60. But the state’s moved to 60, so why wouldn’t we be at 60? That’s the first thing I’m going to say to who pulls me over.” The resident added that he would actually prefer keeping it at 45 over going to 55. Heintz noted that Linn County has also chosen to leave some roads at 55 rather than raise them to 60 because of safety concerns, adding “that’s why we have signs.”
Dimmitt noted he had received numerous calls and emails asking when the 45 signs would come down. “They just want to get to work quicker, I guess,” Dimmitt said. “And you’re right — they don’t run 45 anyway.”
Two Recent Crashes on Pleasant Plain Road
The speed limit discussion came against the backdrop of two separate crashes on Pleasant Plain Road in a five-day span over the past two weeks.
The first crash occurred on August 21st at approximately 12:10 p.m. A northbound driver attempting to turn left into the Cambridge driveway was struck by a southbound vehicle. Both vehicles were totaled and a third vehicle that was also waiting to turn left sustained minor damage. One driver was transported by Jefferson County Ambulance to Jefferson County Health Center. The southbound driver was cited for exceeding the authorized speed limit.
The second crash occurred on August 25th at approximately 11:56 a.m. A southbound driver touched the gravel shoulder and attempted to correct before overcorrecting, crossing into the opposite lane and entering the ditch. The vehicle appears to have rolled or flipped, with deep grooves found in the ground and roof damage noted. The driver was transported by Jefferson County Ambulance to Jefferson County Health Center, and the vehicle sustained disabling damage estimated at $18,000.
