New Park and Ride facilities proposed for Cedar Rapids, Iowa City areas

CEDAR RAPIDS - As Iowans commute more often and farther to their destinations, the state is developing a park and ride system to help reduce congestion, fuel consumption and vehicle emissions, and it could include four to six new facilities in the Corridor in the coming months.

The Iowa Department of Transportation is developing an Iowa Park and Ride System Plan that will be used to plan, evaluate and develop state-owned and operated park and ride facilities.

'It's a tool in the toolbox to help with congestion,” said Craig Markley, director of the Iowa DOT Office of Systems Planning.

A draft of the plan was presented during the Iowa Transportation Commission monthly meeting, which was held in Cedar Rapids on Monday and Tuesday. During the meeting, the commission also approved administrative rule changes for driver education and license examination, and a Revitalize Iowa's Sound Economy grant for $300,000 to construct a street to support an industrial park in Primghar.

The park and ride facilities, which are essentially parking lots where people can park and catch a carpool or another form of transportation to reach their final destination, should help reduce congestion on interstates and highways and support increasing demand for alternative forms of transportation, Markley said.

According to the draft of the plan, park and rides have been identified as a need in surveys and strategic transportation plans. The park and ride system also is needed to support a rideshare program being developed by the DOT Office of Public Transit, according to the draft of the plan.

Vehicle miles traveled on Iowa's highways have increased 37 percent in 20 years, from 20.3 billion in 1990 to 27.9 billion in 2010, according to the Iowa DOT. Among the Linn County workforce, approximately 82 percent drive alone and about 9 percent carpool, according to the American Community Survey by the Census Bureau.

There are 26 park and ride lots in Iowa, but they are primarily developed through informal agreements where commuters have asked for and received permission from the state, a municipality or a business to leave their car. The lots are managed inconsistently, typically lack signage and only four of the existing lots are in high need areas identified in a DOT analysis.

'They are sporadic and often not in the best spots,” Markley said.

The plan would formalize the parking lots, improve signage so they are better utilized and find more ideal locations close to population centers.

As part of developing the park and ride plan, the DOT will host seven or eight public input sessions around the state beginning in September.

The plan includes an analysis of the top 25 county pairs for residence-to-workplace passenger flows, based on census data. Benton to Linn, Bremer to Blackhawk, Cedar to Johnson, Johnson to Linn, Linn to Johnson, Jones to Linn and Washington to Johnson are among the top county pairs.

The draft plan identified 23 potential locations for park and rides, and prioritized the locations based on passenger flow volumes.

Polk County was included in three of the top five possible locations. In Eastern Iowa, U.S. 61 and E. Kimberly Road in Davenport ranked as the No. 3 priority location.

A park and ride at Interstate 380 and County Road F28 in North Liberty, supporting commutes from Johnson County to Linn County, ranked as the No. 6 top priority location. No. 7 on the list was a potential location at Wright Brothers Boulevard and I-380 in Cedar Rapids. A location at I-380 and Iowa 100 was identified as an alternative. Other potential priority locations include:

'No. 11: U.S. 218, south of the corporate limits in Waverly.

'No. 13: U.S. 218 and Iowa 22 in Riverside.

'No. 14: U.S. 151 and Iowa 64 in Anamosa.

'No. 17: U.S. 30 and S. Sixth Ave in DeWitt.

'No. 18: U.S. 20 and Iowa 150 in Independence.

'No. 19: Interstate 80 and Iowa 38 in Tipton.

Markley said once the plan is approved, the DOT will try to partner with local governments to develop the land for the park and rides. He said the preference is to leverage existing property rather than purchasing right of way to develop.

'Ones that will evolve the quickest are places where we can acquire the right of way and make a partnership,” said Garrett Pedersen, who also has worked on the plan for the Iowa DOT.

Not including the purchase of land, converting land to a park and ride would cost $107,940 to $195,600, depending on the location, for a 12,000 square foot paved lot that accommodates 35 parking spaces, or $58,740 to $146,400 for a similarly sized granular lot.

Signage and lighting are two other possible costs.

The plan should be presented to the Iowa Transportation Commission in November, and the new facilities could be established within a few months after, Markley said.