Iowa DOT considers other options for Springville intersection

State transportation planners have decided to reexamine other options for improving safety at a dangerous Springville intersection, but won't yet take a controversial J interchange design off the table.

Two people have died and at least 22 have been injured since 2003 in crashes at the intersection of Highway 151, Sixth Street and Springville Road. A proposal for a “J intersection” design still new to Iowa was put forward by the Iowa Department of Transportation as a way of lessening dangers.

More than 600 signed a petition against the J intersection design and the Springville City Council wrote a letter of opposition.

DOT District Planner Cathy Cutler said an internal project review committee that met Feb. 5 agreed to look at options because of the opposition.

The options are expected to include other interchange designs, including a partial cloverleaf, folded cloverleaf, or full diamond design. They also will include a flashing warning light that would be activated on Springville Road to alert motorists that there is cross-traffic approaching on U.S. 151, and the possibility of upgrading U.S. 151 to improve the visibility of the intersection.

The DOT isn't willing to consider some of the options requested by community residents, including an overpass and the installation of traffic lights or a stop sign at the intersection.

Cutler said costs and site constraints weigh against the overpass, and installing signals or lights would eliminate the benefits of constructing U.S. 151 as an expressway from Marion to Dubuque.

The DOT will continue to work on educating drivers about J interchanges, Cutler said, believing it still remains a viable option that isn't very well understood by the public.

Springville Mayor Richard Heeron was disappointed to hear that the DOT isn't considering signals, a stop sign or an overpass. He said the community doesn't want to be a “guinea pig” to test J turn intersections in Iowa.

Heeron believes the J turn intersections would result in fewer side-impact accidents, but more total accidents each year. He said it would also make it difficult for farm equipment to reach to town's grain elevator.

Heeron said simpler solutions such as installing a deceleration lane traffic on U.S. 151 for westbound traffic exiting at Springville and an acceleration lane for traffic turning west onto U.S. 151 would help. He said the DOT could also moving a flashing caution light much closer to the intersection.

“It's better than spending $1.2 million for something that's going to cause accidents,” Heeron said.