Iowa Historic Property Study: Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge Carrying I-74 and U.S. 6 over Mississippi River between Bettendorf, Scott County, Iowa and Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois, 2012

The 1935 Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge is being documented at this time to fulfill the requirements of the Memorandum of Agreement regarding the removal of the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge and the Iowana Farms Milk Company Building for the proposed improvements to Interstate 7 4 in Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline, Illinois.1 The 1959 twin suspension bridge will be removed as well, but it was determined to be ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Discussion of the history of the 1959 twin span is included, however, in the current report as part of the overall history of the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge. Fieldwork for the documentation occurred in November 2009 and October 2010 (Fig. 1). Limitations on photography included limited shoreline access on the Illinois side, making good views of the bridge from the south somewhat challenging. Also, photographs on the bridge deck were not possible because of interstate traffic and prohibitions on pedestrian traffic. Within the last few years, online primary sources have proliferated, along with historical materials regarding the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge. Sources available online for this report included numerous historical photographs, as well as historical Davenport, Iowa, and U.S. newspapers that document the bridge planning and construction. Additional primary source material was found at the University of Iowa Libraries, the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City, the Bettendorf Public Library, the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center at the Davenport Public Library, and the Iowa State University Special Collections in Ames.

Synthesis of Iowa Research to Address Rural Safety, RB04-013, 2014

Information about roadway departures, rural intersections, and rural speed management countermeasures relevant to Iowa was summarized on webpages (www.ctre.iastate.edu/research-synthesis/) to allow agencies to more effectively target specific types of crashes in Iowa. More information about each of the countermeasures described in this tech transfer summary, as well as speed impacts, reported crash modification factors, costs, usage within Iowa, and Iowa-specific guidance, is available on the Synthesis of Safety-Related Research web pages at www.ctre.iastate.edu/research-synthesis/. The project provides Iowa agencies with a resource (both web pages and relevant publications) to address rural safety. The team is coordinating with the Iowa Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), the Iowa Highway Research Board, the Iowa Association of Counties, and other groups to explore additional ways to distribute the information to local and county agencies.

Audit report on the Iowa Centennial Memorial Foundation for the year ended May 31, 2015

Audit report on the Iowa Centennial Memorial Foundation for the year ended May 31, 2015

Strategies to Address Nighttime Crashes at Rural, Unsignalized Intersections, TR-540, 2008

Citizens request the installation of roadway lighting in their communities based on several motivations, including the experience or perception that lighting improves traffic safety and reduces crime, while also providing a tangible benefit of taxpayer dollars at work. Roadway authority staff fully appreciate these citizen concerns; however, roadway lighting is expensive to install, supply energy to, and maintain in perpetuity. The installation of roadway lighting is only one of a number of strategies agencies have to address nighttime crash concerns. This research assists local agencies in deciding when, where, and how much rural intersection lighting to provide.

U.S. 61 From Memorial Park Road in Burlington North to 1 Mile North of IA 78 in Louisa County. Des Moines & Louisa County, Iowa NHS-061-2(50) - 19-58, 2015

Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) has re-initiated planning and preliminary design studies to improve U.S. 61 from Memorial Park Road in Burlington north to 1-mile north of IA 78 in Louisa County. The proposed project consists of improving approximately 18 miles of roadway from 2-lanes to 4-lanes and evaluating a potential bypass around Mediapolis.

Evaluating the Relationship between the Driver and Roadway to Address Rural Intersection Safety using the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study Data, RB05-013, 2016

Rural intersections account for 30% of crashes in rural areas and 6% of all fatal crashes, representing a significant but poorly understood safety problem. Transportation agencies have traditionally implemented countermeasures to address rural intersection crashes but frequently do not understand the dynamic interaction between the driver and roadway and the driver factors leading to these types of crashes. The Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) conducted a large-scale naturalistic driving study (NDS) using instrumented vehicles. The study has provided a significant amount of on-road driving data for a range of drivers. The present study utilizes the SHRP 2 NDS data as well as SHRP 2 Roadway Information Database (RID) data to observe driver behavior at rural intersections first hand using video, vehicle kinematics, and roadway data to determine how roadway, driver, environmental, and vehicle factors interact to affect driver safety at rural intersections. A model of driver braking behavior was developed using a dataset of vehicle activity traces for several rural stop-controlled intersections. The model was developed using the point at which a driver reacts to the upcoming intersection by initiating braking as its dependent variable, with the driver’s age, type and direction of turning movement, and countermeasure presence as independent variables. Countermeasures such as on-pavement signing and overhead flashing beacons were found to increase the braking point distance, a finding that provides insight into the countermeasures’ effect on safety at rural intersections. The results of this model can lead to better roadway design, more informed selection of traffic control and countermeasures, and targeted information that can inform policy decisions. Additionally, a model of gap acceptance was attempted but was ultimately not developed due to the small size of the dataset. However, a protocol for data reduction for a gap acceptance model was determined. This protocol can be utilized in future studies to develop a gap acceptance model that would provide additional insight into the roadway, vehicle, environmental, and driver factors that play a role in whether a driver accepts or rejects a gap.

Governor Branstad's 2015 Condition of the State Address, January 13, 2015

Speech by Governor Branstad