Truck traffic on the Highway 75/60 corridor may increase by 50 percent over the next 20 years, according to Iowa Department of Transportation estimates.

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Supervisor Craig Anderson shared the number at Tuesday's county board meeting. He was reporting information from a recent Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council.

"We've kind of got a connection between Kansas City and Minneapolis right through Le Mars," Anderson said.

Le Mars Chamber Executive Director Neal Adler later said that increased truck traffic is exactly what the bypass was built for.

"Part of the reason for the bypass is that we could continue to grow without congesting the area," he said. "The increase is good -- the more people come into the area, the more we can draw them in."

Dakin Schultz, regional DOT district transportation planner, said that the projected truck traffic increase is part of a general motoring trend across the state.

"Miles traveled across the state of Iowa increased by 36 percent from 1990 to 2005," he said. "And large truck travel has increased by 51 percent."

The predicted 50-percent increase for freight traffic, he said, includes all of Iowa's major roadways.

During Anderson's report to the county supervisors on Tuesday, he also noted that SIMPCO is looking into the possibility of making I-29 a six-lane interstate through Sioux City.

"They're going through the public comment period right now," he said.