Grand Avenue Widening In West Des Moines Receives State Funding

More than $7.5 million in traffic safety improvement projects were awarded funding from the Iowa Transportation Commission Tuesday, including a project to expand a portion of Grand Avenue in West Des Moines from four lanes to five. The $5.58 million project will receive $500,000 from the state.

The commission approved $7,587,850 in total funding for 44 separate projects from Iowa’s Traffic Safety Improvement Program (TSIP). The program was created in 1987 to increase traffic safety on roads throughout Iowa. Funding can be used on city, county or state roads through an annual application process.

The state awarded the project the full amount requested. In a separate request, West Des Moines applied for $80,000 for advanced technology traffic signal detector units for a four-signal intersection and received 75 percent funding, or $60,000.

The money for the projects will be available to the city in the 2019 fiscal year, which begins July 1. City officials plan to begin the 12- to 18-month project to widen Grand Avenue starting at First Street in 2020.

Construction image via morguefile