I frequently bail on 35 at either Ankeny or Huxley and go through either Huxley or Slater. Kids call me an old lady driver for it. I'm really not comfortable when I get trapped in the left lane and I'm going with the flow of traffic at 80 mph and still have someone riding my bumper. When your student lives on the west side of campus, it just seems easier to head west earlier and not deal with the cloverleaf. I liked when I had one in Freddy Court and just went to 13th. I'm guessing during construction, my preferred routes will be seeing a lot more traffic.
I-35 Ankeny->Ames to become six lanes?
- Thread starter Incyte
- Start date
Yeah I'm guessing a 4-lane 69 isn't in the plans any time soon. Where I'd be at with the whole situation on I-35 is looking at the cost of it. If it's $100 million, can an alternative that involved upgrades to other corridors be done at a cheaper cost with the same net benefit. I'm not sure if the DOT has looked at that or not yet.
I lived in Lincoln, NE for quite a few years and it took NDOT 10 years to convert 56 miles of I-80 into 6 lane between Omaha and Lincoln. I will say that it most definitely helped with the reduculousness that was driving between these two cities.
Its still on the table - go look at the comp plans for Polk City and other surrounding towns. But its such a big project, planning /design takes many years. Just look at what DSM had to deal with SW Connector and the MLK extension.
the I 94 I drive is 5 to 6 lanes wide in each direction.
Of course, we have multiple trains too.
Id much rather drive in Chicago that either I80 between Davenport and Des Moines or I35 between Ames and Des Moines.
Much easier to drive with people that know the left lane is for passing.
Any thoughts as to what difference autonomous vehicles might make in 20 yrs (or not longer after) when this would be completed?
Traffic will flow much more efficiently than it does today. Also, will driver-less Uber cars (buses/vans/?) with multiple passengers be bringing people to-and-from Ames to Des Moines on a regular basis?
Interesting to consider. Point being - I don't think it is prudent to just blindly project traffic needs out a decade or two using past assumptions given the big changes coming down the pike.
Traffic will flow much more efficiently than it does today. Also, will driver-less Uber cars (buses/vans/?) with multiple passengers be bringing people to-and-from Ames to Des Moines on a regular basis?
Interesting to consider. Point being - I don't think it is prudent to just blindly project traffic needs out a decade or two using past assumptions given the big changes coming down the pike.
I don't care about widening the Interstate because that won't help anything. It's like replacing a water pipe in the middle of your house with a bigger one; it won't increase capacity.
But redoing that double exit BS onto 30 would be a dream come true. Although it is somewhat of an ISU tradition by now. I hate it, my father hated it, and his father hated it, and his father hated it!
But redoing that double exit BS onto 30 would be a dream come true. Although it is somewhat of an ISU tradition by now. I hate it, my father hated it, and his father hated it, and his father hated it!
They should also add 5-10 more power lines along the east side of the interstate to be safe.
I-380 between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City is just as bad...
I see more problems with the on/off ramps in Ankeny then widening I-35. The new Diamond interchange at Grand Prairie Pkwy would do wonders at I-35(Corp Woods, Oralabor, 1st st, and 36th St) as-well-as I-80(415 and 69).
Also, if the DSM had better public transit options, less stop lights, and more roundabouts this problem would take care of itself.
To @capitalcityguy 's point. A bus system would do wonders. Also, according to this report by The University of Cal Berkley that for every 1 ride share vehicle, approx 10-25 cars could be taken off the road.
https://www.cambridgema.gov/~/media/Files/CDD/Transportation/PTDM/PTDM_Impact_on Vehicles.ashx
If they wanted to fix the I-35 problem tomorrow, they could A) put toll booths up, and start charging.. (Congestion Pricing). https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/congestionpricing/sec2.htm
B) Add High-occupancy toll lanes
Also, if the DSM had better public transit options, less stop lights, and more roundabouts this problem would take care of itself.
To @capitalcityguy 's point. A bus system would do wonders. Also, according to this report by The University of Cal Berkley that for every 1 ride share vehicle, approx 10-25 cars could be taken off the road.
https://www.cambridgema.gov/~/media/Files/CDD/Transportation/PTDM/PTDM_Impact_on Vehicles.ashx
If they wanted to fix the I-35 problem tomorrow, they could A) put toll booths up, and start charging.. (Congestion Pricing). https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/congestionpricing/sec2.htm
B) Add High-occupancy toll lanes
Perhaps not from today's levels, but by the time it is finished it will have less congestion than the road would have had at that completion date with nothing done.
I drive many miles across many states mostly on interstate. The best thing six lanes helps with is that the semi trucks that have a limited speed do not slow up the traffic as much. Ever been behind two Swift semi's when they are trying to pass each other?
1st St in Ankeny is getting one of these diamond interchanges and the interstate is being widened to 6 lanes up to 36th St. I think this starts in a year or two. Oralabor is getting redone as we speak.
I'm not convinced the 36th St. exit will need much work for years to come, except perhaps the on ramp from 36th to southbound I-35. Then again, once the 36th upgrade between 69 and Delaware is done that may lead to another big jump in traffic like it did when the interchange opened.
One of the things i wish ankeny had was a western option for going north-south without as many stoplights. There's one good road for moving N-S quickly through ankeny and its on the eastern edge (I-35). If there had been an additional route planned in advance built more like a highway, maybe that could be expanded instead of alleviating I-35 through adding lanes. Unfortunately there's little way to do that now. And without that, those roads wont alleviate much of the Ames-Des moines I-35 traffic either as no one going between the two wants to be slowed by driving through ankeny .
The city of Chicago messed up when they didn't make the Kennedy, Eisenhower, Stevenson, and Dan Ryan expressways 14 lanes wide (7 in each direction, 3 express lanes and 4 local) from downtown out to at least 294. The Dan Ryan Southbound is the only one that has a stretch of 14 lanes.
And, they should have built an L Train that runs directly along Lake Shore Drive in between the lanes of traffic. Ok I'm getting greedy.
And the one who is making the pass always cuts you off last second right before you pass them because god forbid they have to hit their break for 2 seconds.
