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Des Moines delays Grand and Locust conversion after staff recommends —right-sizing— alternative
Summary
After a study and public engagement showed split public opinion, city engineers recommended retaining one-way operations while —right-sizing— Grand Avenue (reducing lanes and adding a protected two-way cycle track); city staff recommended delaying the project in the CIP pending DART and budget review.
City engineering staff presented a study on converting downtown Grand and Locust avenues and recommended a lower-cost, —right-sizing— approach rather than full two-way conversion, then asked the council to delay the project in the Capital Improvement Program for further review.
Steve Nabor, Des Moines City Engineer, told the council the study evaluated safety, circulation, parking, transit and bicycle connectivity for the corridor between 5th Avenue and 15th Street. Public engagement (open houses, an Input ID portal and polling) produced mixed results: for example, roughly 63% favored two-way on Grand in one poll but only 45% favored it on Locust, staff said.
Corey Bogenrief, principal traffic engineer, said pedestrian- and bicycle-involved crashes were overrepresented between 5th and 8th streets, average observed speeds were about 25 mph or lower in the study locations, and on-street parking utilization averaged 35—50%, suggesting some parking could be repurposed. Staff warned that two-way conversions increase intersection conflict points because they add left-turn movements and that two-way designs would likely require turn lanes and intersection modifications to accommodate large vehicles and emergency apparatus.
Staff developed five alternatives, ranging from no-build to full two-way conversions with buffered bike lanes or a median-separated two-way cycle track. Nabor recommended Alternative 4: retain one-way operations but —right-size— Grand from three lanes to two, add a protected two-way cycle track and keep most on-street parking. He said that alternative achieves many safety and bicycle network goals while avoiding larger costs and parking losses associated with converting both streets to two-way. "When I look at the matrix, I just don't see the benefits of going to two-way outweigh the one-way," Nabor said.
Councilors raised questions about long-term maintenance (snow removal and plowing) for raised cycle-track designs, possible economic effects on Locust businesses if traffic were diverted, and whether to wait for a pending DART study that could change bus routing downtown. The mayor and several members urged more analysis on operations and economic impact where stakeholders requested it.
On budget timing, City Manager Scott Sanders said the project will be delayed in the CIP and returned to council in the coming months for further decision-making; staff later characterized the timing as indefinite pending the DART study and budget decisions. The next steps include sending council a project timeline, further public outreach and touch points in February and during the CIP review.
