DES MOINES, Iowa — The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is asking for public input on a project that would improve metro roads and address safety concerns.
MPO plans on using $800,000 in U.S. Department of Transportation grant funding to make the Des Moines metro a safer place to walk, drive and exist through a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan (CSAP) — but they need resident feedback to get started.
According to MPO, the CSAP area includes 16 cities, unincorporated portions of three central Iowa counties and more, spanning 500 square miles.
The MPO survey uses an interactive map, allowing residents to highlight concerning roadways, identify transportation problems and suggest potential solutions that could shape the way central Iowa's engineers and first responders operate.
“We want to take every step possible to further reduce roadway casualties,” said Mark Holm, MPO chair and mayor of Ankeny. “To do that we need to learn from the people who use the transportation system every day – the people who know the trouble spots and have ideas for safety improvements.”
According to the MPO's Friday press release, the CSAP "is developed through detailed analysis of safety data combined with residents’ lived experiences ... [and] identifies and prioritizes transportation-related safety issues in the region."
Interested residents can fill out the survey at this link.