DOT ready to talk again about dangerous Springville intersection

Springville area residents who want a new overpass at Highway 151 and Springville Road won't get exciting news an upcoming Oct. 20 meeting on the interchange's future with Iowa Department of Transportation officials.

Residents who'd like to see a traffic light on Highway 151 at Springville Road and lower speed limits may not get much satisfaction, either.

Short-term options for the interchange have narrowed since last winter, when the community rejected the DOT's proposal to use a J-turn interchange design at the dangerous intersection in a bid to reduce serious high-speed collisions.

The J-turn design would have blocked traffic entering Springville on Springville Road from the south. Some residents said it also would be confusing to motorists, and make it difficult for large trucks and farm vehicles to turn.

The DOT will hold a public information meeting on Oct. 20 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Springville Memorial Library, 264 Broadway St., to discuss alternatives for the intersection.

A formal presentation will be made at 6 p.m., and DOT personnel will be available anytime during the meeting to discuss the alternatives.

Those alternatives don't include a overpass at this time.

“Right now, there's no funding for any type of project out there,” DOT Transportation Planner Cathy Cutler said. “The funds we had for the J-turn have been reassigned to other projects.”

Cutler said The DOT staff isn't recommending an overpass given its current budgetary limitations and the current conditions at the intersection, Cutler said, although it would cooperate with local residents and leaders if they make a long-term effort to secure funds for the project through political leaders.

The DOT isn't opposed to the idea of a new acceleration lane for traffic turning westbound from Springville Road onto Highway 151, Cutler said, although the deadly accidents at that intersection haven't been the result of such turning movements. Rather, Cutler said, they've resulted from northbound motorists on Springville Road crossing Highway 151 into Springville and entering the path of oncoming traffic.

Cutler said the DOT thinks some of the dangers in such situations could be reduced if motorists would stop in the median after crossing the first two lanes of travel. She said the DOT recently added lines in the median to indicate where motorists should stop to view cross traffic after making it across the first two lanes.

Springville Mayor Richard Heeren said he's not giving up on the idea of a traffic signal at the intersection and lowering the Highway 151 speed limit.

“They're running in excess of 75 (m.p.h.) Heeren said of the Highway 151 traffic.

The DOT maintains that adding a traffic signal would cause more opportunities for serious accidents as motorists tried to speed through on yellow lights, or worse yet, did not stop at all.

Heeren said motorists would get used to a traffic signal or stop sign, much as they've gotten used to traffic signals on Highway 151 in Dubuque.

Flattening out the elevation of Highway 151 and “squaring up” the intersection to make it easier for Springville Road traffic to see cross-traffic on Highway 151 are also ideas that will be discussed at the meeting, Cutler said.

The current intersection resulted when the DOT constructed a bypass of Springville on Highway 151 in 1993. At least four have died in accidents at the intersection since the stretch of Highway 151 became four lanes in that year.

the death toll at the crossing to four since Highway 151 became four lanes. The most recent was in February 2009, when Roger Bartels of Monticello was driving westbound on Highway 151 at about 6 a.m. and a van crossing the highway slammed into the side of his car. Bartels, 42, was killed.