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I-80 & HHH ideas: 6 lanes, upgrades, and a roundabout
by Lisa McDonald · News · July 28, 2016


Herbert Hoover Highway and Interstate 80 may face major changes to increase safety. Ideas include widening I-80 to six lanes and redesigning the north I-80/Hoover Highway intersection.


Plus, Johnson County wants to upgrade two miles of HHH from there toward the east.

People expressed concern about safety around the intersection during the Iowa Department of Transportation July 21 public information meeting at the Coralville Public Library.

Gerald Murphy of Iowa City noted that even though the crash record of the north I-80/ Hoover Highway intersection is not immediately worrisome, the intersection poses a danger to drivers. People often blow through the yield sign when entering the I-80 westbound on-ramp, increasing the chance of accidents with drivers merging onto the ramp from the east, Murphy said.

Assistant County Engineer Neil Shatek, of Johnson County Engineering and Secondary Road Department, said his department plans to reconstruct two miles of Herbert Hoover Highway starting from that intersection and extending east, with construction expected to begin in 2019.

Shatek said his department considered a roundabout to combine the north side I-80 on- and off-ramps, Herbert Hoover Highway and Utah Avenue. Currently, Utah Avenue breaks off Herbert Hoover Highway about a block before the I-80 westbound off-ramp.

So far, though, “there has been no evaluation beyond seeing how a roundabout might look/fit and there have been no decisions made about these or other concepts,” Shatek said.

IDOT staff said they are open to working with Johnson County to develop the most effective solution for the intersection.

Though much talk centered around the concept of adding an additional I-80 lane in each direction, Iowa District Six Engineer Jim Schnoebelen said there is no set amount of traffic flow that requires six lanes of traffic.

Schnoebelen said mandatory additional lanes depend a lot on how many vehicles pass through during peak hour each day. The eight-mile I-80 study area experiences about 34,000 cars passing through each day.

That is not enough traffic to add more lanes, but IDOT may add lanes for safety concerns, Schnoebelen said.

People asked IDOT staff: If the extra lanes were to be approved, would the department consider removing the median to install the extra lanes of traffic instead of expanding onto private land?

IDOT transportation engineer specialist Wes Mayberry said expanding onto private land makes more sense. Removing the median costs extra money to install cement barriers between lanes and increases difficulty of snow removal, Mayberry said.

Aside from extra lanes, people recommended several things they wanted IDOT staff to consider while planning safety improvements, including:

• Adding additional turnaround points along the highway to aid emergency vehicles in reaching destinations quickly.

• Removing the shrubbery along the I-80 westbound on-ramp to allow more time for I-80 drivers to see cars merging and move over.

• Leaving the Wapsi Avenue bridge in place, since without it emergency vehicles would need to use dirt roads to reach destinations.

Based on the current five-year plan, construction would not begin until 2021. However, IDOT updates the five-year plan annually, so there is a possibility construction might begin before or after that year.

For more information regarding proposed improvements, you may contact IDOT transportation planner Cathy Cutler at catherine.cutler@dot.iowa.gov or 319-364-0235.



Getting involved:

For more information regarding proposed improvements, you may contact IDOT transportation planner Cathy Cutler at catherine.cutler@dot.iowa.gov or 319-364-0235.