Sioux Center, Iowa — Safety, traffic flow, and aesthetics of Highway 75 through Sioux Center have been a topic of discussion in the city for many years.
Seventeen years ago, in 2000, the highway was converted from a four-lane divided highway to a 3-lane with a center turning lane in the downtown area. The city and DOT partnered to reduce it from four lanes to three in 1999 because of the number of accidents, injuries, and deaths. But the traffic did have to slow down as a result.
From as early as 1999, projections have indicated that a 5-lane highway would eventually be needed to effectively accommodate both local and pass-through traffic on Highway 75.
In January 2013, the Iowa Department of Transportation approved a 5-lane reconfiguration plan for 75 in Sioux Center. But due to heavy public opposition, the city scrapped the plan three months later. A year later, in March of 2014, a traffic study was undertaken.
Sioux Center City Manager Scott Wynja gives us an update.
He says that this time the public was given a chance to participate in the decision-making process, and he says this time he feels like more people are “on board” with the current plan.
He says one of the main components to the new enhanced 4-lane project is the median.
Wynja says that there would still be impacts to some owners of adjacent property under the current plan, as the road will have to be widened in some areas. He says they don’t know the official measurements yet.
Wynja says the DOT has not yet placed Highway 75 improvements on their five-year transportation improvement plan, which are set each year by the Iowa Transportation Commission, but he says the city is working with the DOT on the next steps for Sioux Center to move the project forward.
