Iowa Asks Drivers: How Do We Improve the Interstate?

(TNS) -- Highway drivers are being asked for their advice as the Iowa Department of Transportation studies how to increase mobility on Interstate 80 between the Nebraska and Illinois borders with an eye toward adding lanes.

Motorists can rate everything from safety, traffic, road work and pavement conditions to the possibility of adding tolls and no-truck lanes and eliminating rural bridge overpasses along the 310-mile interstate.

Metro areas around Iowa City-Coralville, Des Moines and Council Bluffs have at least three lanes in each direction, but most of I-80 is two lanes in each direction.

“We are laying this out to see what our customers, what users of the interstate, want and what they think needs to be fixed,” said Wes Mayberry, Iowa DOT transportation engineer specialist. “If the state widens 80, we need to know how many lanes to put out there. Is it six lanes or eight lanes?”

The public can complete the online survey in about 10 minutes here.

The survey has generated 50 comments since going live Jan. 19, Mayberry said. Adding lanes and introducing semitrailer truck-free lanes have been common themes so far, he said.

The feedback will be incorporated into the I-80 Planning Study, which is being conducted as Iowa DOT works to overhaul its busiest road. Widening I-80 in certain areas, including from Des Moines to Davenport, is already on the radar, the Iowa DOT has said.

The Iowa City area sees about 56,000 vehicles per day on I-80, and traffic counts top 90,000 per day in Des Moines, according to Iowa DOT data. Rural stretches average 25,000 and 35,000 vehicles a day between Des Moines and Davenport, according to the Iowa DOT.

The in-house study will assess existing condition, performance, short- and long-term issues and strategies for improving the route.

Among specific topics under consideration:

• Establishing semitrailer-free lanes, which would be feasible with three or more lanes, Mayberry said.
• Eliminating low-traffic bridge overpasses, which would otherwise have to be replaced if lanes are added.
• Instituting tolls as a way to pay for construction. Tolling has previously been deemed too costly.
• Widening other corridors, such as highways 20 or 30, to mitigate the need of widening I-80.
• Encouraging alternate transit options such as trains or buses to curb traffic.
• Assessing needs of smart and connected vehicles, and seeing how other states have incorporated technology.

The study is expected to be complete in early 2017. It will include cost estimates, priorities and how long the plan would take to complete based on how much money is allocated each year.

“This should tell us how much of the interstate needs to be expanded, but also will help us prioritize it,” Mayberry said. “Maybe there’s an area where pavement is really bad and traffic volumes are really high that shows what needs to be done first.”

The priorities identified in the study would be melded into the Iowa DOT’s five-year projections, which are updated annually. The work would be in addition to previously announced plans to reconstruct and improve the Interstate 380/I-80 interchange set to begin in 2019.

The study incorporates a new approach called the Planning Environmental Linkages model, where by the study is developed and released through a series of technical reports that will be posted here.

This approach is intended to ease the process of gaining federal environmental approval, Mayberry said.

©2016 The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.