Interstate 380 Planning Study(PEL): Goals & Guiding Principles, April 2017

(2017) Interstate 380 Planning Study(PEL): Goals & Guiding Principles, April 2017. Transportation, Department of

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Abstract

The Interstate 380 (I-380) Corridor is one of the fastest-growing corridors in Iowa. Within the seven county region, I-380 connects Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, the state’s second- and fourth-largest metro areas and is home to nearly 500,000 residents and over 30 fortune 500 companies. Over two dozen communities within the 7 county region have experienced considerable growth in population and development over the past 20 years thanks in part to the diverse multi-modal transportation system in this area. This increased population and growth has led to a similar increase in traffic along I-380 which is a key artery in the regional highway network. This increase in traffic has also led to an increase in crashes in the corridor. Between 2010 and 2014 there were 97 fatalities (5% of the statewide total) and 531 major traffic injuries along the I-380 corridor between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. I-380 was ranked as Iowa’s 6th most congested corridor in 2014 and according to Texas Transportation Institute’s Mobility Report, I-380 in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area experienced 2.2 million hours of delay which cost $47 million in that same year. This corridor has been designated as Iowa’s Creative Corridor and has been the subject of increased study and research around emerging traffic technology. The corridor is mostly rural in nature and has a great amount of adjacent land use and development which exacerbates the existing heavy traffic volumes. Traffic volumes are projected to significantly increase over the next 30 years and this reflects the growing importance of this corridor to regional travel within the state and the continuing growth of communities in the study area. As a result, additional roadway capacity will be needed for the I-380 Corridor to function at acceptable levels of service. Due to the uncertainty in the timing of economic development, funding availability, and technological advances that could affect capacity, it is desirable to advance a plan for the I-380 corridor that offers vision and goals based on known information, but is also flexible enough to change as conditions change in the future. In this corridor, modal choices such as commuter rail service have the potential to affect the carrying capacity of the I-380 corridor and during the course of this study, those modal options will also be investigated and results documented.