City of Johnston Merle Hay Road and Johnston Drive Improvements

Background

The City of Johnston required improvements to ease congestion on Merle Hay Road at Johnston Drive. The proximity of the corridor to I-80 contributed to high traffic volumes, and planned redevelopment of the corridor was expected to compound this issue in the future. Foth was tasked with creating a design to add additional turn lanes and queue lengths to the existing corridor while maintaining a single lane of traffic in each direction at all times during construction.

Approach

Design of the corridor included new roadway alignment and required finding a balance between restricted physical space and minimum design standards for horizontal curves, vertical slopes and curves, and taper rates. Medians and combined access points were added to reduce conflicts. New water mains, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer were also included in the project.

Extensive coordination with private utilities was essential during the design process. Power along the corridor was converted from overhead to underground lines, which required working in conjunction with MidAmerican Energy. In addition, we worked closely with adjacent property owners to ensure that the planned redevelopment of the area could be adequately served by the improvements to the corridor and that these developments would not negatively impact the redesigned roadway.