Three-lane conversions are still getting substantial advocacy from the Iowa DOT.
In Des Moines, the city council has approved a pilot project to change Euclid Avenue (US 6) from four lanes to three for 10 blocks in the Oak Park and Highland Park neighborhoods. (The east end of the project, 2nd Avenue, is the junction of 6 and IA 415.) Parking spaces would be substituted for the through lanes. The KCCI story does not say if those spaces would be metered.
In Sioux City, the DOT wants to whack a lane off IA 12 in its southernmost two miles, from about the Military Road intersection to I-29. Unlike Des Moines, though, there are few intersections along the route. KTIV also reports the Americans with Disabilities Act is a factor.
The road diet revolt has gone better in some places than others. In Grundy Center, widespread opposition resulted in a packed community meeting where the DOT tried to justify its strategy, while saying such a change would not move forward without the city’s support. Some Waverly residents are begging the city to reverse its decision to make IA 3 three lanes.
One place the three-lane strategy isn’t happening is Sioux Center, where KIWA reports the idea is to expand US 75 through the city to five lanes, with the center lane as a turn lane with strategically placed dividers. In a place where there are a lot of businesses with their own driveways, I can see where center lanes would be a positive.