T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY = The junction of US 30 and Durham Avenue in State Center, pictured, is slated to become just the second “Reduced Conflict Intersection” in the state of Iowa, with construction on the project expected to begin in 2026.

STATE CENTER — An intersection in State Center that has drawn the attention of local and state officials alike over concerns about a slew of high speed collisions is set to receive a major makeover in an attempt to improve overall safety, with construction likely to begin sometime in 2026.

The junction of U.S. 30 and Durham Avenue near Casey’s General Store will become the second “Reduced Conflict Intersection” or RCI in the state, according to Iowa Department of Transportation Traffic Tech Gary Kretlow Jr. with the District 1 office in Ames. The first, which has been in place for about a year, is located along Highway 20 just outside of Fort Dodge near the Marker 126 Travel Center.

CONTRIBUTED GRAPHIC – A rendering shows the design of a Reduced Conflict Intersection, which will be constructed at the Durham Avenue turnoff from US 30 in State Center and is estimated to cost approximately $2 million. Currently, the only other RCi in the state is located along Highway 20 near Fort Dodge.

The design, which is shown in a graphic accompanying this story, essentially entails “J-turns” and is estimated to cost around $2 million, all of which will be funded by the state and the federal governments. It has already been awarded a $500,000 grant.

Kretlow doesn’t expect bids to go out until late 2025 with construction beginning in 2026, but in the meantime, State Center Police Chief Jon Thomas said warning lights should be up within the next 10 to 12 weeks. According to Thomas, those devices will display amber warning lights to east and westbound highway traffic when vehicles are stopped at the stop signs on Durham Avenue, and for those who are stopped at the stop signs, they will see a yellow light flashing when east and westbound traffic is approaching once the vehicles trip an automatic sensor.

“It gives them that extra warning so if they do a quick glance or a quick view and they don’t see the car, that flashing amber light is gonna tell you, ‘You might not have seen it, but there’s a car coming,'” Thomas said.

Between 2020 and the end of 2024, Kretlow said, a total of 15 accidents have been reported at the intersection, with about half of them resulting in personal injuries and one ending in a fatality.

Because of this reality, Thomas approached DOT officials about potential solutions and showed him surveillance videos of some of the accidents, and after meeting with a group of residents and city leaders earlier this year, they devised the idea of an RCI.

“The main part of the intersection is (that) if you are on the north or south side of US 30, you can’t directly make a left turn into westbound or eastbound 30. You do have to go approximately 800 to 1,000 feet east or west and make a U-turn to make your, I guess, turn, in the way you want to go,” Kretlow said.

Kretlow admitted that the department was unlikely to receive the $15 to $20 million in funding necessary to construct an entirely new intersection, but this project would still be able to accomplish the goal of improving safety in a more cost effective manner. The only issue they’ve had at the Highway 20 RCI, he said, is a few wrong-way driver incidents, but he wasn’t sure if “other substances” were involved. There haven’t been any major accidents thus far.

Thomas feels that the State Center Police Department (SCPD) and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) have been at least somewhat successful in raising awareness and increasing traffic awareness, but nonetheless, a drunk driver took out a light pole in the area at 70 miles per hour in the wee hours of the morning just two weeks ago.

“I will say that I think the enhanced awareness and enforcement has been helpful, but then we still have near misses literally every week,” he said.

In discussing the larger project to come, Thomas acknowledged that it will likely take some getting used to, but RCIs are statistically proven to reduce the number of angles of conflict that result in accidents.

“Now, people are slow to accept change. They primarily probably aren’t going to like it, but in the long term, I think it’s going to make a big difference. And that’s what the data tells us is that in the manner (that we are) will have positive results,” he said. “The warning signs, we really feel, are going to be a step in the right direction. The intersection redesign, if it performs as is expected, will create a significantly safer intersection.”

Concern remains, he added, that there will be a learning curve for drivers once the project is completed, and if some decide they don’t want to adapt, they may simply utilize the other intersections on the east and west sides of town and create traffic problems there.

“We hope that doesn’t happen. We hope people will use the intersection the way it’s designed to increase safety for everybody,” Thomas said.

Kretlow expects to award a bid for the RCI in the fall of 2025 with construction beginning in the spring of 2026 and completed within one construction season. At least one lane of traffic will be maintained on US 30 at all times, but there may be detours arranged and agreements worked out with the city and county to ensure maintenance of the other roads affected during that time.

“The main thing we want to see with this is reducing the (number of) serious crashes. We still may see some minor fender bender, side swipe type crashes, but it’s those T-bone crashes that kind of turn into serious crashes on a high speed roadway,” Kretlow said. “It may take a few weeks for the public to get used to, (but) as time goes by, they’ll find it isn’t much different than before, and hopefully it’s actually easier for people that are on Durham Avenue or coming out of State Center to make their turn to go left.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.