UPDATED
Johnston, Grimes and Polk County hosted a public information meeting on May 13 to discuss a traffic study for the Highway 141 corridor between the Highway 44 and Highway 415 interchanges (see the accompanying illustration above). If you weren’t able to attend the meeting, the handout and a video has been posted on the City of Johnston website.

The goal of the study is to create a master plan that will address the buildout needs of the corridor including access management, safety performance, and major intersection location form and function. The plan would be the basis for access coordination and future roadway improvement project. Some initial observations from the study include:

  • Current traffic counts are between 20,000 and 25,000
  • MPO Forecast indicates future traffic counts to be above 30,000
  • What is labeled as “Comprehensive Plan Buildout Forecast— Future” suggests traffic counts between 45,000 and 73,000
  • Higher traffic counts are in the south end of the corridor
  • Crash frequency and severity data suggest that the current locations of concern are at NW 78th Ave, and NW Towner Drive, although it can also be observed that accidents have occurred through the length of the corridor

The development community in the Greater Des Moines area is encouraged to participate in these information meetings and planning process. The next public information meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 29, 2021.

REGISTER HERE (registration link not yet available)