Monday, April 23 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Public Input and Informational Meeting on proposed NW 26th  Street
interchange and extension of MLK Parkway to I-80

A public input and informational meeting for the proposed NW 26th Street
interchange and extension of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway will be held
on Monday, April 23, 2007 at the Northside Senior Center, Park Fair
Mall on 2nd and Euclid, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. (In the basement of the
mall)

This is a project that was alive five years ago that was stopped due to 
citizen's concerns.  This is one of the projects included on the Central 
Iowa Sierra/1000 Friends of Iowa tour last week of areas threatened by 
sprawl and highway building.  Sierra Club members and other neighborhood 
activists worked for three to four years to defeat this project before it 
was taken off the planning table in 2002.  It is now back on the table.  If 
you are interested in becoming involved in this issue, please contact Jane 
at [log in to unmask]

The proposal is to extend MLK Parkway north across the Des Moines River to 
I-80 with an interchange at NW 26th street, then also connecting to 
Morningstar Drive. The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization 
has already approved $1 million for the project, and the project's 
supporters have been lobbying for federal earmark money.

This will be an open house format and held by Snyder and Associates, the
engineering firm doing the study for Polk County. This will be an
initial meeting to collect input on the study are for the Environmental
Impact Statement, a federally-required evaluation for a project that has
severe environmental impacts.

Concerns include:

· The proposed interchange and roadway would bisect four trails that are
currently surrounded in natural areas: Sycamore Trail (mountain biking),
Neal Smith (the American Discovery trail, a national trail system uses
Neal Smith trail), the Trestle to Trestle Trail, and the Des Moines River 
Water Trail.

· The MLK extension would impact several sensitive natural areas:
floodplain woodlands, shrub scrub wetlands, and natural areas along the
Des Moines River.

· The project would bring more traffic from Interstate 80 through the
inner city and affect the character and quality of life in existing
neighborhoods.

· The funding for this project, estimated at $17 million dollars, would
NOT be putting our public dollars toward transit and bicycle and
pedestrian facilities. Instead it would encourage more cars to be on our
roads and the interstate, furthering congestion problems instead of
alleviating them.


This information was excerpted from an announcement by Stephanie Weisenbach 
of 1000 Friends of Iowa. 

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