The tragic death of an Iowa Department of Transportation worker last year prompted the department to invest in a new machine that makes pothole patching safer.
IDOT employee Matt Dickerson was struck and killed in an Interstate 80 work zone near Council Bluff in May 2024. He was the 19th IDOT employee to be killed in a work zone since 1953.
In the wake of the incident, renewed efforts by IDOT to make routine roadside work safer for employees led it to buy a self-propelled one-person patcher that keeps workers off the road during repair.
Cimline
The Cimline Durapatcher enables one IDOT worker to complete the entire patching process from the cab using a hydraulic arm and nozzle. The patcher has an Isuzu chassis and features a 300-gallon heated oil tank and 5-cubic-yard rock chip hopper. It preps and installs patches in just a few minutes, the company says.
With one joystick, the operator can control the mixing and pumping of the emulsion. The resulting repair does not require compaction and uses less staff and equipment than conventional methods.
IDOT’s Durapatcher is currently operating primarly in District 4, based in Council Bluffs.
A recent survey from the Associated General Contractors of America highlighted how frequently work zone vehicle accidents are occurring.
In the survey, done in partnership with software provider HCSS, 60% of contractors said a motor vehicle accident had occurred on one of their highway work zones in the past 12 months. That marks a 4% decrease from last year's survey but a 5% increase over the 2023 results.
