Des Moines wants the Iowa Department of Transportation to consider a pilot project that would reduce a section of Euclid Avenue to three lanes for at least a year.

In a written briefing to the City Council, Des Moines’ engineering staff said fewer lanes could make the street safer through the Oak Park/Highland Park Neighborhood, but it could also snarl traffic on the north side’s main east-west thoroughfare.

The avenue is currently four or five lanes wide.

The council voted 6-0 on Monday to send the project proposal to the DOT. Because Euclid Avenue doubles as U.S. Highway 6, it falls under the transportation department’s jurisdiction.

“This has been a long time in the making,” Ward 2 Councilwoman Linda Westergaard said. She has championed the study alongside others, including Drew Kelso, president of Oak Park/Highland Park Neighborhood Association.

The $200,000 project would cut Euclid Avenue to three lanes — one eastbound, one westbound and one center left-turn lane — between 12th Street and Second Avenue. On-street parking would then be available on each side of Euclid between Sixth and Second avenues.

Like with the recent pilot project in the East Village, crews would repaint the street and add signage to warn drivers.

City Engineer Steven Naber said the pilot would start in June 2020 if approved by the DOT.

City staff said more than three-quarters of drivers surpassed the road's 30-mph speed limit during a 2018 traffic analysis. The crash rate over the past five years was also double the statewide average, the city said.

Between 14,000 and 20,000 cars daily travel along Euclid Avenue near Sixth and Second avenues, according to a 2016 DOT average traffic count.

The new configuration would likely slow down traffic, reducing the chances of serious accidents.

Kelso told the Register late in 2018 that slowing traffic and including parking could help fill empty storefronts near the intersection of Sixth and Euclid avenues. The new Riverview Park amphitheater, arriving next year, could also spur development.

The city warned, however, that the lane decrease would cause wait times to “increase significantly” at the intersections at Second and Sixth avenues. During peak times at Sixth Avenue, the traffic queue lines would more than double at the traffic light.

Hoping to avoid traffic, drivers might also seek alternate routes through neighborhood streets not designed for much traffic. There also might not be a demand for the new parking spaces, making them vulnerable to drivers who might use them as makeshift lanes, city staff said.

If the project is approved, the city's evaluations will be based on whether it reduces driving speeds; yields enough parking; limits the increase in travel times; contains the spread of traffic to nearby roadways; cuts the crash rate; and spawns positive responses at the businesses along Euclid Avenue.