The Iowa Department of Transportation lacked legal authority to order the removal of traffic cameras in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Muscatine, the Iowa Supreme Court said in a 6-0 opinion released today. The case dates to 2014, when IDOT instituted rules regulating traffic cameras and ordered them removed from certain locations in each of the three cities. In 2010 and 2011, first Cedar Rapids, then Des Moines and Muscatine installed the cameras to better control what the cities considered unsafe stretches of road. Des Moines installed the cameras along Interstate 235 between 42nd Street and Polk Boulevard. IDOT ordered all three cities to remove their cameras, and the cities filed lawsuits in 2015 challenging the orders. In March 2017, a Polk County District Court judge sided with IDOT. Today’s ruling reversed that decision and remanded the case for further proceedings.