Two Des Moines Intersections Make Iowa DOT Top Ten For Needed Safety Improvements

DES MOINES, IA. -- A statewide ranking of intersections with the highest crash rates lists two Des Moines locations among the top ten. Overall, the Iowa Department of Transportation report of 200 locations that are candidates for safety improvements includes 51 intersections within the capital city.

The DOT list is a composite based on crash analysis over the five-year period from 2012 through 2016 and takes into account the total number of crashes and crash rates, weighted at 25 percent each, and the severity of crashes, which received a 50 percent weighting in the overall score.

Des Moines' highest rated intersection for crashes during the period studied was Sixth Avenue and Day Street, which ranked fourth statewide. The intersection of East 30th Street and East University Avenue ranked seventh.

(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Des Moines Patch or click here to find your local Iowa Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Ankeny, the only other metro-area city listed in the top 25 on the DOT list, had three intersections in the top ten. Ankeny Boulevard and First Street in Ankeny was the highest rate site statewide. That location saw 116 crashes that resulted in 57 injuries, according to a Des Moines Register story.

Other Des Moines locations that ranked in the top 25 on the DOT list included:

• East 14th Street and Euclid Avenue, 11th place
• Southeast Fifth Street and Army Post Road, 13th
• Southeast Fifth/Southeast Sixth streets and Indianola Avenue, 15th
• Southeast 14th Street and Park Avenue, 17th
• Southeast 14th Street and Indianola Avenue, 18th
• Hubbell Avenue and East Douglas Avenue, 21st

"There are all kinds of ways to slice and dice this," Steve Gent, director of the Iowa DOT office of traffic and safety, told the Register. "Because the reality is we could fix all of these. We could close them down for the next five years and there will still be a top 200 list."

Overall, Des Moines plans nearly $2.8 million in capital improvement projects related to traffic safety during the fiscal years 2018 through 2021, but only $400,000 in intersection work, according to a regional transportation improvement report released this summer by the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

During the same time period, Des Moines is slated to spend more than $25 million on streetscape and pedestrian projects, $58 million on road projects, $5.3 million on trail projects and $33.9 million on bridge projects, the report indicates.

Image via Pixabay