I-35 / US 30 Flyover Progress
- Thread starter scottie33
- Start date
Have lived in Shueyville for nearly 20 years now. The increase in traffic from then to now is insane. Of course, North Liberty has gone from like 2,000 people to like 20,000 people. But I think the number of people commuting from IC to CR or vice versa has increased a ton as well. It's just nuts during commute time.
My family farms along stretches of Hwy 20 up in NW Iowa and you wouldn't believe how much the volume has picked up. That portion of the state really did need an East/West 4 lane option.
I'd bet it still has less traffic than the 2 lane portions of Hwy 30 east of Tama
I do not know exactly where in northwest Iowa you are, but I am going to say Ida County (around Ida Grove and Holstein) as an estimate/midpoint of the corridor.
https://iowadot.gov/maps/msp/traffic/2015/counties/IDA.pdf
US-20 has a peak flow across the county of 4,470 where 20 and 59 briefly merge. That is a generous read because of the highway briefly picking up N/S traffic from 59. In reality, we should probably read it more like 3,200 to 3,600 per day.
East of Tama?
https://iowadot.gov/maps/msp/traffic/2017/Counties/TAMA.pdf
5,100 per day -- after the split down to Chelsea, which I assume people are using as a reliever to 30. It is 7,000 for a relatively brief stretch before you can jump on E66.
The two-lane 30 has roughly 50% more (on the low end, you could argue for as much as 100% depending on your comparison) traffic than the four-lane 20 yet half the capacity.
"More than it used to be" can still not be a lot.
Admittedly I have not been to NW really at all so I don't know the topography well but an additional issue on 30 in Tama and Benton counties is nearly constant hills that provide nearly no opportunity to pass. Get behind a semi (which there are a lot of with packing plants in Tama and Marshalltown) and you are done for.
Yes, that stretch is so annoying. It is so hard to pass anyone that is going slow. I drove 30 east a lot a couple summers in college when I worked for the DOT. It was super annoying driving behind a slow driver on 30 with all the hills .
The problem is that 99% of drivers are subject to a massive testosterone surge, inversely proportional to an IQ drop and/or their rate of speed, upon encountering a passing lane; in spite of all objective evidence, each driver believes they are the fastest, and that no other drivers should be allowed to pass. The driver returns to normal cognitive state and speed (or lack thereof) upon leaving the 4-lane portion of the road.
What's crazy about this is of the 5 major bridges in the Quad Cities over the Mississippi River (I-80, I-74, Government/Rock Island Viaduct, Centennial/US-67, I-280), 3 of them need outright replacing (I-80, I-74, Centennial) and I-280 is in store for a deck replacement. Currently only I-74 is being replaced, but that's one that has needed to be replaced for decades because neither bridge was built with Interstate travel in mind (one span built in the 1930s, the second in the 1950s, both well before the Interstate system was conceptualized and decades before I-74 was built).
I have zero qualms with US 20 being expanded to 4 lanes. Having done quite a bit of traveling in the northern half of the state in the past 25 years, it has vastly improved things. What used to be a 6 hour trip for me is now less than 5 and much, much safer for both travelers and farm to market users as well. The reason it was finished as a 4 lane road before US30 might have to do with the terrain of the stretch remaining. Thems some high dollar miles.
That said, I agree with the others who have mentioned just how jam packed 80 is with commercial traffic anymore. Finishing 30 will help some with local travelers, but 80 is going to continue to add pressure for the forseeable future. It's got potential as a toll road given how critical it is to commerce in the upper Midwest.
That said, I agree with the others who have mentioned just how jam packed 80 is with commercial traffic anymore. Finishing 30 will help some with local travelers, but 80 is going to continue to add pressure for the forseeable future. It's got potential as a toll road given how critical it is to commerce in the upper Midwest.
It's about a lot more than traffic capacity when going from 2 lanes to 4. It allows for passing without going in to oncoming lanes which is a big safety issue.
Are there not enough threads about expanding US20 for you guys to post in? Good topic, just not here.
It is frustrating (in a minor, first world problem kind of way) to read a dozen new posts in this thread and the only one on-topic is simply asking if there is an update about the US30 entrance to Ames.
Seriously, there is little to no "news" about the progress from normal news sources, except for an occasional piece that sensationalizes the problem. This thread has become my best source of news on the project, especially when the engineers and construction guys who know what is going on behind the scenes post.
It is frustrating (in a minor, first world problem kind of way) to read a dozen new posts in this thread and the only one on-topic is simply asking if there is an update about the US30 entrance to Ames.
Seriously, there is little to no "news" about the progress from normal news sources, except for an occasional piece that sensationalizes the problem. This thread has become my best source of news on the project, especially when the engineers and construction guys who know what is going on behind the scenes post.
Welcome to a free message board.....
seriously though I agree in that when I see this thread is updated I get excited wondering if something has changed (even though I only live 17 miles south of the interchange and could go look myself).
If you're so desperate for news contact [email protected] and ask her yourself. It would take less time than writing a 3 paragraph ***** session on a message board, and you would be getting official info right from the source.
Interesting take. Probably is a lot quicker to type what he did than to look up her contact info, and to wait for her reply. But I did send her an email as you suggested. Hopefully she'll send a link to a site that gives real time updates so that we won't have to come to CF for topics of interest. I will post here when I hear from her.
I would be surprised if it even took me 1 minute to find she was the contact for the project.
Ps: Here is the link to the DOT info page for major projects:
https://majorprojects.iowadot.gov
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