Indianola council directs staff to pursue federal Safe Streets for All funding to add center turn lane on Highway 65

Indianola Mayor Richardson and council members on May 15 directed city staff to pursue a U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets for All (SS4A) implementation grant that would fund adding a center turn lane on Highway 65 between Highway 92 and Girard Avenue.

The direction came after AP, a city staff presenter, summarized a CERPA study called the Comprehensive Safety Action Plan that identified the city’s Highway 92 and Highway 65 corridors as part of the region’s high-injury network and listed eight priority intersections, including the Clinton and Howard intersection within the city. “There’s a very small timeline that we have to react upon and apply for this grant,” AP said. “The deadline here is on June 26, but SERPA has given us a deadline that we have to submit our list of projects by tomorrow.”

The study catalogued 36 projects across those corridors and placed them into short-, mid- and long-term categories with a total planning estimate of roughly $33,000,000: about $1,700,000 for short-term work, $4,500,000 for mid-term and $27,000,000 for long-term projects, AP said. The city staff ranked the 36 projects…