Physical

Regional transportation officials encourage a “fix it first” mentality for roads. This means encouraging governments to prioritize the protection of prior investments, like our roadways, and to improve upon their current conditions, especially safety and reliability. Maintenance is not limited to roads and bridges. Some expense goes into maintaining and replacing transit infrastructure, particularly vehicles. Additionally, the freight and goods transport network within Greater Des Moines should be safe, reliable, and efficient.

Multiple studies have shown that people are increasingly seeking pedestrian-scale, walkable neighborhoods and activity districts with access to public transportation as their communities of choice; this is true of both urban and suburban districts. Along with The Tomorrow Plan and Mobilizing Tomorrow, Capital Crossroads envisions shifting back to a more historical model due to changing demographics, travel patterns, and rates of car ownership. This goal supports a greater mix of transportation choices, including a robust transit network, an active carpool culture, and land use and design that support walkability. These efforts will promote activity in our neighborhoods as well as inclusivity.

Though transit usage is increasing in Greater Des Moines, the region’s largely suburban and rural orientation and relative lack of congestion make implementation of large-scale transit improvements a constant challenge. The simple fact is that Greater Des Moines currently does not have the densities necessary to significantly expand transit in regional mobility strategies. However, transit expansion is key to Greater Des Moines’ ability to retain and attract top talent.

Matching transit service with where people live and work is the best way to maximize access and to operate a system most efficiently. It also is important that the transit stops are accessible by bicycle and by foot. In both the short- and long-term, the geography of future development across the region should align with the region’s transit routes and link to bicycle and pedestrian networks.

In its current configuration, the 68-year old passenger terminal at the Des Moines International Airport (DSM) is not sufficient to accommodate today’s modern aircraft or the airport’s ever-increasing passenger volume. After multiple studies and iterations, the Des Moines Airport Authority Board voted unanimously in October 2016 to build a new $500 million, 14-gate terminal on the east side of the airport adjacent to the current facility, roughly $140 million cheaper than the originally proposed south side location.

Tourism officials believe a new terminal is critical to Central Iowa’s competitiveness for leisure travelers and major conventions and trade shows.

Freight networks impact the overall effectiveness of the regional transportation system. A number of transportation-related impediments prevent the freight distribution system from operating at peak efficiency and should be considered in holistic mobility strategies.

Following a recommendation in the original Capital Crossroads plan for a multimodal transload facility in Central Iowa to significantly enhance the region’s competitive position for the logistics industry, the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and its Freight Roundtable received a grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation to conduct a study for a Des Moines area rail port facility. The study confirmed the need for a transloading facility and recommended a 20-acre city-owned site in southeast Des Moines.

Central Iowa’s ambition is to be the “parks and trails capital of the world.” Recent efforts have sought to complement the region’s construction of land trails with the development of a comprehensive network of water trails, providing an abundant network of water recreation along 150 miles of the region’s creeks and rivers, including places for tubing, birding, hiking, paddling, boating, and fishing; the establishment of area greenways; floodplain protection; and, improved habitats. The plan covers the Des Moines, Raccoon, South Skunk, North and Middle rivers, as well as Beaver, Fourmile, Mud and Walnut creeks.

Capital Crossroads has also launched a cross-Capital effort to address Central Iowa’s trails, greenways, and parks and recreation system. The effort aims to bring the existing network of parks, trails, streams, and more together to help bridge the gap between our natural, cultural, and agricultural assets. This is a two-pronged approach: Mapping an analysis of creeks, streams, parks, trails, buffers, and parcel ownership supported by a Growing Green Communities grant, and a regional branding effort.

Originally opened in 1925, Drake Stadium in Des Moines has been renovated regularly since that time, most significantly in 2005. In the summer of 2016, new turf was installed and the track surface was replaced. Despite these renovations, the stadium requires additional refurbishment in order to be legitimately considered as a host for the U.S. Olympic Trials in track and field. Raising Drake Stadium to world-class standards would be a boon for Drake University, the Drake Relays, and the prospects for sports tourism in Central Iowa.

Youth sports tournaments are big business for communities across the country. Each event brings families to the area from across the state and, potentially, nation to spend multiple days watching matches, staying at local hotels, and shopping at area businesses. Because they are so lucrative, the competition to host these tournaments is fierce. In order to even be in consideration for many of the largest tournaments, a region must possess suitable infrastructure  and resources to accommodate the scale of such events. Of course, there also are major benefits to the general public of a tournament-caliber indoor sports complex. When not hosting tournaments, these facilities will be available for public use.

A key strategy incorporated into Capital Crossroads during the mid-course review process was the implementation of gigabit internet connection speeds across the region. This effort received a considerable boost when Mediacom Communications announced it plans to start rolling out 1 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) internet speeds to its residential customers by the end of 2016.

Typically, the pattern is for dense urbanized areas to have access to gigabit connectivity before more spread out suburban and rural communities. The country’s largest cities also have advantages over smaller areas because their customer base is high enough to warrant gigabit-speed investments by for-profit communications providers. Our efforts in the Physical Capital will be to identify the means to secure gigabit internet, whether through privately funded, public-private, or through public funding.

Transportation for America envisions Smart City technology infrastructure and data analytics as tools to combat urban challenges such as congestion, economic inequality, and pollution in new and more efficient ways to create vibrant, attractive, inclusive, and prosperous communities. They recommend that cities be willing to launch pilot projects, test ideas, learn from those experiments, and be willing to share the results, even when they fail.

The challenge for Central Iowa communities seeking to research and implement Smart City strategies is that they are tremendously expensive. The areas that are proceeding with development of these systems are leveraging public-private partnerships to fund assessments and, ultimately, construction and operation of new technologies and processes.