Iowa DOT plans to remove curve at deadly Urbana crash site

The state Department of Transportation is planning to remove a sharp curve on the western edge of Urbana where five young people died in a semi-versus-pickup crash last month.

The Iowa DOT studied the crash and the site, which some locals say has been a known hazard for years. In the Benton County After Action review completed last week, the DOT recommended working with Benton County on a slate of short-term solutions as well as permanently removing the curve at the crossing of Highway 150 and 55th Street in fiscal 2018.

'The best long-term solution is to remove the curve,” said Steve Gent, the director of the Iowa DOT Office of Traffic and Safety.

On April 9, a pickup truck driven by Quentin Ary, 19, of Vinton, entered Highway 150 from 55th Street and collided with a northbound semi driven by Jack R. Youde, 56, of Sutherland. Ary and passengers Nicole Jacobsen, 20, of Vinton, Triston Randall, 17, of Urbana, and Hunter, 14, and Zoey Tuttle, 12, both of Vinton, were killed.

Fifty-fifth Street leaves Urbana heading west and ends at a bend where Highway 150 shifts from a north-south road to an east-west road. Vehicles entering Highway 150 from 55th Street must look back nearly 180 degrees to see the highway's southbound traffic.

The area wasn't accident-prone - with eight crashes and one fatality since 2004 - before April, according to the DOT review, but the hope is to make it safer, Gent said.

The Highway 150 curve, essentially a bypass of Urbana, was added decades ago, but it's no longer necessary because north-south traffic generally use Interstate 380, Gent said. Gent said 75 percent of the 3,690 vehicles heading north on 150 turn off the highway and go into Urbana.

An existing road, 31st Street, already connects 55th Street to Highway 150 northbound. With the curve removed, Highway 150 would overlap with 31st Street and meet 55th Street in a traditional four-legged intersection, so new road would not need to be constructed.

Removing the curve would cost about $1.5 million, Gent said. He said three years may seem like a long time, but the DOT will have to acquire land and design the changes.

In the short term, the DOT would enhance the signage, add flags, post a sign declaring 'cross traffic does not stop, and install flashing lights in the approach to the junction. Paint would be added to the road near the stop sign on 55th Street to guide traffic more squarely into the intersection with 150.

After the crash, Ernest Jacobson and James Bixby, both of Urbana, started a petition to urge the DOT to make traffic changes.

They collected 1,527 signatures from residents in Urbana, Shellsburg, Vinton and Center Point, which they presented to the DOT at the state Capitol on Wednesday, Jacobson said. The petition requested three solutions including a traffic circle, a three-way intersection and removing the curve, but Jacobson said he was pleased with the DOT's plan.

'We want this intersection changed, and we don't want anymore children killed, or parents, or grandparents, anybody,” said Jacobson, who said he used to serve ice cream to three of the children. 'That intersection is bad. And everyone has said over the years, ‘Let's change it.' ”