University Avenue could be reduced to 3 lanes between 42nd and 73rd streets

Big changes could be coming to a busy west-side road.

Des Moines and Windsor Heights are considering reducing University Avenue to three lanes between 42nd and 73rd streets.

That stretch currently fluctuates between four and five lanes.

The change would leave one vehicle lane in each direction and a center turn lane. It would also open up space for bike lanes, which are being considered.

A feasibility study for the Des Moines segment — 42nd to 63rd streets — is due next month.

The change is being considered as Des Moines prepares to remove a decaying pedestrian bridge over University Avenue near Windsor Elementary and St. Theresa schools, said Jennifer McCoy, the city's traffic engineer. It will be replaced with a crosswalk.

The pedestrian bridge will come down next summer. The lane reduction could happen at that time.

"Right now we’re trying to see if it’s feasible," McCoy said.

Windsor Heights is further along. A committee of residents and business owners recommended the three-lane configuration to the City Council in March.

The group also recommended a 12-foot-wide bike and pedestrian trail — not an on-street bike lane — for the south side of University Avenue.

"We wanted to be able to offer mobility for everyone," said Councilman Zachary Bales-Henry, who sat on the committee.

Windsor Heights officials want to create a "main street" feel along the 10-block stretch of University Avenue from 63rd to 73rd streets, with better access to businesses and safer spaces for pedestrians and cyclists.

In 2004, the city invested close to $3.5 million to purchase properties around University Avenue and 66th Street that it later sold to developers. Most of those parcels have been built out with new retail, commercial and residential projects.

The final piece — a five-story mixed-use development with space for three restaurants — is in the works for the southeast corner of the intersection.

"We have this five-lane highway that goes through the center of Windsor Heights that really isn't conducive with economic development and future commercial development for the city," said Michael Libbie, executive director of the Windsor Heights Chamber of Commerce.

Reducing lanes and raising the speed limit on University Avenue also could eliminate the need for speed cameras, Bales-Henry said.

The Windsor Heights committee recommended increasing the University Avenue speed limit from 25 mph to 30 mph.

The city's speed cameras issued 29,758 tickets and at least $1.9 million in fines during eight months of 2017.

"The four-lane street does not encourage you to slow down. It just doesn't," he said.

Costs estimates for the lane project will go before the City Council in April. A final decision could come in October.

The potentially high cost gives some city leaders pause. (Windsor Heights declined to give an estimate until engineers create a design for the project.)

"I'm open, but I'm like a lot of people; I'd like to see what it looks like in real life," Mayor Dave Burgess said.

He wants to use temporary barricades and lane markings to replicate the road design to see how it works before tearing up the road. Speed camera data could determine whether it truly slows drivers and whether it increases or decreases congestion, Burgess said.

"I don't think council and myself are interested in jumping into it because it's a lot of money, and if it doesn't work, what would we do?" he said.

Between 10,000 and 16,000 cars travel University Avenue in Windsor Heights each day, according to Iowa Department of Transportation traffic counts.

"I don't believe you can possibly project what it would be like as a three-lane," Councilman Mike Jones said.

Windsor Heights' proposal is similar to changes made to Ingersoll Avenue, which went from four lanes to three lanes in 2010.

Traffic crashes on Ingersoll Avenue dropped 20 percent and injury crashes fell 30 percent between 2010 and 2014, according to Des Moines data. Vehicle speeds dropped .5 mph to 2 mph and travel times were reduced by 4 percent during the morning commute and 9 percent in the evening.

Meanwhile, retail sales at Ingersoll Avenue businesses increased 23 percent between 2008 and 2015, said Meg Schneider, senior vice president of business resources and community development for the Greater Des Moines Partnership.

"Safer, calmer complete streets create places that are attractive to people and are attractive to business," she said. "These types of configurations are really great assets to a neighborhood."