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TRANSPORTATION PLAN

INTRODUCTION

The Transportation Plan is based upon a total transportation system and how it relates to and serves the land use patterns within the community. The transportation system encompasses several modes of transport which include but are not exclusive to automobile, pedestrian and bicycle, and to a certain extent, rail, mass and para transit.

The transportation system serves to tie together and, in some cases, to separate the various land use activities in the community. The Transportation Plan describes the relationship between transportation and land uses.

The City of North Liberty’s existing transportation system contains varying classes of roadways which are generally functional and well-placed for efficient travel in a north-south pattern. However, the east-west movement of traffic, as well as the design standards of City streets, are inadequate for proper functioning based on existing traffic volumes and land uses which are served.

Additional concern lies in the safety of travelers on Highway 965 and movement across the busy arterial roadway. The numerous street intersections and private driveway accesses present spacing and congestion problems and severely contrasts the roadway’s recommended access guidelines within its functional classification designation.

As a bedroom community, the City of North Liberty is generally lacking in mass transit facilities. Senior citizen transit is available on a limited basis, and the opportunity for transit services in conjunction with the University of Iowa is also available in a variety of forms, including campus service and a van pool program. In response to varied community support of such service, long term planning for transit service should be conducted.

Finally, the City is in the process of planning and establishing a trailway system that will connect with Iowa City and adjacent area trails. The trail needs to include adjacent future development in future land use planning.

STREETS AND HIGHWAYS

Functional Street Classifications

Functional classification refers to the role each roadway should perform, thus determining street widths, speed limits, intersection controls or other design features. Functional classifications, as discussed within the Concept Plan, will need to be used in North Liberty’s road network to determine the number of access points which should be permitted on major roads, and the design and relationship of local roads to county and state highway systems.


Freeway/Expressway

Interstate 380

Interstate 380, located just west of North Liberty, provides a high level of mobility between interstate and out-of-state cities. Direct access to the interstate from the City has been of great benefit in the steady growth and development of North Liberty.

The positive impacts of Interstate 380 are expected to even further increase when the “Saints Highway” linking Saint Louis, Missouri and Saint Paul, Minnesota is completed. The market range and accessibility of North Liberty will be greatly increased. Located at the crossroads of Interstate 80 and the Saints Highways, the Iowa City Metropolitan Area and, specifically North Liberty, would be at the hub of the transportation routes. This will serve as an even greater stimulus to North Liberty’s expected growth.

As traffic volumes increase along the interstate, the exposure and access afforded to land adjacent to the Penn Street interchange will make these properties increasingly attractive for development. The Proposed Land Use Plan recognizes this fact and proposes commercial and industrial development in these areas in the future. As stated previously in the land use section, the two factors determining when development will occur in these areas are market demand, and the extension of urban services. Market demand is closely related to the future of the interstate and the “Saints Highway” project. The status of this proposed improvement should be closely monitored by the City and properly planned for with regards to the extension of utilities, and other urban improvements.


Secondary Arterials

Highway 965

Highway 965 bisects the City of North Liberty from north to south between the original town center and Jones Boulevard. While the road does not contain the primary interstate traffic any longer, as it did in the past, it is none the less important for regional and inter-City travel and maintains significant levels of traffic. As such, several concerns exist with regard to safety, accessibility, and segregation of the community. Design/safety improvements to Highway 965 was the most common, number one rated priority by community survey respondents.

Numerous access points created through the years by development along the highway have resulted in numerous traffic accidents and significant safety concerns due to the complicated vehicular movements along a high speed roadway. In addition, there are major concerns regarding pedestrian crossing of the highway.

In response to safety concerns, the City has adopted a controlled access ordinance which defines the location and types of access points allowed on the highway. In addition, spacing requirements and approval processes were established for the future access points. This ordinance provides a great deal of flexibility in identifying future access points, however, the City must consider potential negative aspects of the accesses, as well as recommended design criteria for arterial streets. These considerations will help ensure maximum safety and efficiency in the functioning of the highway.

Although limiting the number of access points is essential in providing a safe roadway, commercial development adjacent to the highway must be provided access in some fashion in order to take full advantage of the highway exposure. In June of 1996, the City of North Liberty proposed conceptual drawings for Highway 965 that included plans for intersection redesign, turning lanes, a center median, lighting and landscaping from Penn Street to Forevergreen Road. Currently, the project is on hold. It is planned that the redesign of Highway 965 will occur by means of capital improvement funding or ISTEA grant funding. In addition to this planning work, the City is currently studying pedestrian crossing alternatives for the Zeller Street/Highway 965 interchange. Highway 965 is a major gateway to the City. Improvements in the design of this corridor are critical towards removing the highway as a community dividing element and improving the City’s image.

The establishment of a service drive system has been proposed within the Transportation Plan. Sugar Creek Lane currently serves the existing highway commercial on the west side of Highway 965. The Land Use Plan shows an expanded Central Commercial Area to the west of Highway 965 and a highway commercial area to the north of Forevergreen Road. As these areas develop, careful design/review of these service roads is essential. These roadways should incorporate sufficient stacking space, and allow a “double loading” of the street.

In association with a service road plan, the installation of turn lanes and signalization of intersections would serve to greatly minimize traffic conflicts along Highway 965. Such
improvements should be provided at the intersections of major east-west corridors, and other important traffic generators. Offset intersections on Highway 965 should not be allowed, particularly at the intersection of Fairview Lane and Golf View Drive. Due to the unsafe nature of offset intersections, the City should resolve this intersection jog prior to improvements of the corridor.

Penn Street

Aside from Highway 965, North Liberty is served by another secondary arterial street. Penn Street is an east-west roadway providing an important link between the City and Interstate 380. This corridor has been proposed within the Land Use Plan as principally industrial and commercial in nature. Access along this roadway should be extremely limited, and allowed only for large developments. Similar to Highway 965, the City should consider the adoption of a controlled access ordinance for Penn Street. This ordinance will ensure proper functioning of the roadway. Traffic levels have increased significantly in the 1990s due to the connection of Interstate 380 and the increase of development in North Liberty. As urban development expands along in this area, the City must closely monitor and regulate the development. This will preserve Penn Street as a well functioning roadway.

Collector Streets

The proposed collector street system includes the following roadways.

Dubuque Street

Formerly the primary roadway through the City, Dubuque Street’s importance has diminished since the development of Highway 965 and more recently, Interstate 380. The roadway does, however, still provide critical connections to the Central Commercial Area and Iowa City.

Direct lot access is the major issue with regards to this collector street. Past development has been allowed to access the road directly. Direct lot access from future development should be discouraged.

The City is currently planning to redesign the intersection of Dubuque Street and Cherry Street, as well as at Dubuque Street and Front Street. This will improve the safety of these intersections within the Central Business District.

Front Street

Front Street provides the City’s only north/south connection east of the railroad tracks. As such, it becomes an important element in North Liberty’s transportation system. As with Dubuque Street, existing direct lot access raises concern with this street. Future development should be discouraged from accessing Front Street directly.

Zeller Street

As shown on the Transportation Plan, a westerly extension of Zeller Street is proposed to connect with Jones Boulevard and continue west past Jones Boulevard as development increases. This will increase access to the western portions of the community. Additionally, there are plans to extend Zeller Street to the west to North Liberty Road.

Jones Boulevard

Jones Boulevard provides a north/south connection for the portion of the City west of Highway 965. As shown on the Transportation Plan, the City intends to extend Jones Boulevard north to 240th Street in the future to provide better access for industrial land uses. Although development along this street has been extremely limited, consideration should be given to discouraging direct lot access along this street in the future.

Forevergreen Road

This road serves as a future east/west collector for the southern portion of the City. It a also provides an important connection across Interstate 380 eastward to the City of Tiffin. Direct lot access along this roadway should be discouraged for future development.

Fairview Lane/Golf View Drive

The collector streets at present do not provide a complete east/west connection within the central portion of the City. This has resulted in isolating western portions of the community from the central growth area. The future extension of Zeller Street to Jones Boulevard will assist in providing the necessary connection, as will the extension of Fairview Lane/Golf View Drive. However, a number of concerns exist with regards to the extension of Fairview Lane west of Highway 965, including direct lot access existing on the street, and the street jog that will occur where 270th Street and the future extension of Fairview Lane meets at Jones Boulevard. While these issues have not created significant problems at present, as this connection is completed and development in the area increases, these features will create congestion and functioning concerns.

Fairview Lane was established as a collector that would allow a future east/west connector route. Direct lot access has been allowed along Fairview Lane. The City needs to limit access on it. In addition, the City should investigate alternative layouts for these collector streets which may include establishing a minor realignment of 270th Street. These realignments would provide a more efficient and safe collector street for future development, and should be planned while ample vacant land in the area permits such options.

The intersection of Fairview Lane/Golf View Drive with Highway 965 is also an issue which has not been resolved as part of the concept plan for the redevelopment of Highway 965. As the area west of Highway 965 develops, and detailed information on subdivision layout and especially topography is made available, the exact alignment can be resolved. It is critical to note that if the intersection of Fairview Lane and Golf View Drive remain offset, additional traffic control problems will likely arise. Moreover, if this intersection alignment is not directly across from Golf View Drive, adequate spacing of the offset needs to be made to minimize movement and safety concerns.

The Transportation Plan also proposes the extension of Golf View Drive as well as Club House Road east, connecting to Front Street and eventually Dubuque Street. This arrangement would greatly improve the street network in this portion of the community. With the construction of the new sewer treatment plant and the development of the old site, the extension of Golf View Drive should be planned for. When the street extension is pursued, critical attention will have to be given to the multiple land access points existing in the mobile home park areas. Moreover, so as not to compound problems with multiple access, the density of development east of Muddy Creek should closely follow the guidelines of the Land Use Plan.

Local Streets

Local streets serve to provide direct lot access to individual land uses. A number of the existing local roads within the older portions of the City are designed below contemporary standards, creating functioning and safety concerns. The City should identify problem areas and establish a system to prioritize the needed improvements. Subsequently, these roadways should be updated to contemporary standards as warranted.

Some of the older subdivided areas of development contain dead-end or incomplete road systems which complicate development and do not provide access to neighboring or future development.

In order to resolve these issues with future development, proper consideration of the street system and layout is essential while reviewing proposed plats. Natural features, such as topography and drainageways, as well as coordination with adjacent plats, and logical street extensions into undeveloped areas, must all be evaluated and addressed within proposals.

Alleys

Alleys add unnecessary cost to development and maintenance. As a consequence, the municipal design standards for North Liberty do not permit alleys in new residential subdivisions. The City may consider the use of alleys in designs where goals of higher density residential land use is desired. In new commercial/industrial developments, alleys should only be used as a last resort as a means of accessing off-street loading facilities.

Alleys are common throughout the “original town” portion of the City. Where possible, alleys should be vacated when their existence is not longer required. In such cases, however, the City should simultaneously preserve drainage and utility easements. In those instances where a rear lot, secondary means of access is still required, alleys should be updated to modern standards with paving and related maintenance.

Construction Standards

In the past, many of the City’s design and construction standards for local and collector streets were outdated, resulting in narrow local streets, direct lot access onto collectors, and incomplete street improvements and paving along collector streets.

As a means of improving the functioning and safety of the local traffic carriers, the City’s current construction standards for streets must be enforced. In addition, an improvement program to eliminate existing problems should be adopted.

PEDESTRIAN/BICYCLE/TRAIL FACILITIES

Sidewalks currently exist throughout North Liberty due in part to the sidewalk construction project that occurred in the 1980s. In addition, the City’s Subdivision Ordinance requires a four foot wide concrete sidewalk be installed in all developments. While this sidewalk system provides for pedestrian movement within neighborhoods, travel into other portions of the City and along major streets is much more limited. Furthermore, these sidewalks are designed to accommodate primarily pedestrian traffic, making bicycle traffic hazardous.

In order to produce a well planned and efficient system of bicycle and pedestrian movement throughout the City and surrounding region, a comprehensive trails system plan should be developed in conjunction with the Transportation Plan. Although the trails plan may closely parallel the Transportation Plan, it focuses specifically on the needs of the non-motorized transportation modes (i.e., pedestrian and bicycle). In identifying potential trail corridors, the plan should take the following factors into consideration:

1. Trails should link user destinations such as residential areas, commercial/civic areas, and parks.

2. Arterial and collector streets provide the most direct routes to these destinations.

3. Street right-of-way provides available area for trail development. In addition, trail construction in conjunction with road improvements results in lower overall construction costs.

4. Crossings at thoroughfares can be better accommodated with traffic controls that exist or are planned with the development of thoroughfares.

5. Trails provide a positive user experience when developed along positive natural amenities such as natural drainageways.

6. Drainage easements and floodplains provide undevelopable land which can be utilized as trail corridors.

The proposed trails plan should connect to and integrate sidewalk systems within the various residential neighborhoods and serve to provide safe access to various activity centers such as the Central Commercial Area, the elementary schools, and community parks. In addition, the importance of providing designated crossings in order to reduce the impact of Highway 965 should be a high priority goal of the City’s. On the conceptual trail system plan, crossings have been located at Penn Street, Cherry Street, Zeller Street, Fairview Lane/Golf View Drive, Club House Road, and Forevergreen Road.

As illustrated on the trails system plan, trail segments have been proposed in locations which offer direct and convenience pedestrian connections between City activity centers and the surrounding region, while striving to minimize neighborhood disruptions. The plan, while conceptual in nature, should provide a basic framework in producing a more detailed and exacting plan as part of a future study.

The City of North Liberty is preparing plans for a separated trail that runs from Penn Street through the length of the City and will, in the future, be connected to Coralville and Iowa City. Upon completion, access to this trail from all locations of the City should be developed and street crossing points reviewed for pedestrian safety.

The Region 10, Twenty Year Bicycle and Pedestrian Bicycle Plan, prepared by the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, has proposed the construction of a rural bicycle lane that runs from Cedar Rapids (County Road F12) through Solon and then to North Liberty. This trail connection, along with the proposed trail leading from Penn Street south to Coralville and Iowa City has the potential of providing safety for bicyclists along these routes as well as attracting many cyclists to the area. The City needs to work closely with the East Central Iowa Council of Governments to assist in the development of future trails that provide connecting routes to the City.

RAIL FACILITIES

One railroad line, the CRANDIC, passes through North Liberty, just west of the original town center between Highway 965 and Front Street. The tracks run parallel to Highway 965, just north of the City limits, turn easterly along Dubuque Street, and then run straight south through the community. The line provides access into Iowa City and Cedar Rapids for connection with the national railway system. No trains stop in North Liberty on their current schedule.

A railway spur has been recently installed to Centro Industries, utilizing Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy (RISE) funds through the Iowa DOT. This railway spur may provide incentive to future industrial land uses on the available vacant property within this industrial zoned area.

MASS TRANSIT

At present, no commuter bus service is provided between North Liberty and Iowa City. However, a number of mass transportation options do exist for residents with specific needs.

A transport service, the Johnson County SEATS, provides senior citizen and handicapped transportation to persons living in North Liberty. The service requires 24 hour advanced reservations which specify the desired pick up and drop off times. Both lift equipped and passenger vans are available to serve City residents as necessary.

Other mass transit services are provided through the University of Iowa. These services include bus service to Iowa City from the Oakdale Campus, located just south of North Liberty and a van pool program for University faculty and staff.

The Cities of Coralville and Iowa City have indicated a willingness to contract with the City of North Liberty in order to provide bus service between North Liberty and downtown Iowa City. There is no doubt that the City of North Liberty would benefit from an expansion of bus service into the community. There are, however, several issues, such as economic feasibility, which need to be analyzed further and weighed against one another prior to acceptance of such a plan. The City should continue to analyze potential demand and resulting cost in order to determine when such service is appropriate.

The community service has revealed that a significant portion of North Liberty residents commute to common cities of employment. The City may wish to encourage car pooling as a legitimate method of reducing highway and parking congestion and promoting energy conservation.

AIRPORT FACILITIES

Commercial air service is provided to North Liberty via the Cedar Rapids Airport, which provides connections to national and international flights. Several other airlines also operate from Cedar Rapids as well as out of Iowa City. These include the Iowa City Municipal Airport, Marion Airport, MacBride Aviation Inc., Tibbens and Page-Avjet Companies. These nearby facilities offer a number of options for providing air service to North Liberty.
 

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