Scoop: Ingersoll Avenue to lose more lanes
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Another segment of Ingersoll Avenue will lose lanes of traffic under a budget item approved by the Des Moines City Council this week.
Why it matters: Reconfiguration of the roughly half-mile segment connecting the Ingersoll district with downtown is intended to slow traffic and improve walkability.
Yes, but: "Road diets" in other areas of the city have received mixed residential reviews
- More than 1,700 people have signed a petition calling for a Euclid Avenue project to reverse course, for example.
Catch up fast: The Ingersoll Streetscape is a beautification project between MLK and 42nd Streets that began in 2020.
- The work includes roadway reconstruction with fewer lanes of traffic, new sidewalks and raised bike lanes.
- Its final phase of construction is tentatively set to begin in about five years.
Driving the news: A new $500,000 budget amendment will extend traffic-calming elements associated with the streetscape about a half- mile east.
- Construction is expected to begin this summer, city engineer Steven Naber tells Axios.
Details: Ingersoll's current five-lane street cross section will be reduced to three between Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and 15th Street.
- Buffered bike lanes and new on-street metered parking will be added.
Of note: The new section is considered its own project even though it looks like an extension of the streetscape, Naber says.
- Unlike the other Ingersoll Streetscape areas, these streets won't be reconstructed.
- Much of the work will be restriping the roadway and modifying signals and signage to accommodate lane reconfigurations.
The intrigue: The traffic reconfiguration was requested by some council members and is partly in response to new developments, Naber says.
- The corridor includes the recently renovated Crescent Chevrolet building, now home to Big Grove Brewery.