Process to Identify High Priority Corridors for Access Management Near Large Urban Areas in Iowa Using Spatial Data

Iowa’s highways play a dual role of serving through traffic and providing direct access to adjacent land and development. When access via driveways and minor public roads from arterial and collector roadways to land development is not effectively managed, the result is often increased accident rates, increased congestion, and increased delays for motorists. Although access management is often thought of as an urban problem, some of the most difficult access management issues occur in areas at and just beyond the urban fringe. Fringe areas are the most rapidly developing areas in Iowa. Like most other states, Iowa is becoming more urbanized, with large urban centers accounting for more and more employment and inbound commuting from rural hinterlands. In urban fringe areas considerable commuting occurs inbound to employment centers within the suburban areas and urban cores. Two-lane and four-lane arterials that were originally designed to serve long-distance, high speed travel may also need to serve growing numbers of commuters and sometimes will also have land development and recreational facilities such as trails and parks in placed alongside. Unless access is carefully managed, such highways can lose their effectiveness in terms of serving through travel. They can also become considerably less safe rather quickly. Iowa has completed and received national attention for its program of access management research. Thi