The Iowa Department of Transportation issued a statement following the ruling by the Supreme Court that the D-O-T does not have the authority to regulate traffic cameras. The statement says the D-O-T will “respect and uphold” the court’s decision and Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and Muscatine may immediately resume operation of the cameras if they chose to do so.   Sioux City had previously taken the Department of Transportation to court over the traffic cameras and Mayor Bob Scott is pleased with the ruling.

Scott hopes that the state legislature, cities and the D-O-T can now work out an effective partnership for using the cameras.

The cities had sought the judicial review in 2015 after the D-O-T had ordered some speed cameras turned off, stating that the cameras did not make interstate highways safer. Governor Kim Reynolds’ office released a statement saying, “The governor supports limitations on automated traffic enforcement cameras and would support the legislature acting on this matter before the session ends.”