The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is working to negotiate a contract with the top firm of three finalists vying to conduct an intermodal usage study that would determine the feasibility of developing a freight intermodal facility in Central Iowa.

The MPO will contribute 50 percent of the total cost of the survey, which will have a maximum cost of $100,000, said MPO Executive Director Tom Kane. Private funds will pay for the other half of the cost and are in the process of being secured by Robert Brownell, District 1 Polk County supervisor.

After the closing of an intermodal facility in Newton in 2009, the MPO had conversations with the Union Pacific Railroad, which wants hard numbers on container movements before making a decision on whether to invest in Des Moines.

“Our issue is that we are surrounded by Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City and Omaha,” Kane said. “And for (Union Pacific) to come here and make an investment or be a part of this intermodal facility, we need to prove to them the numbers are there.”

Essentially, Kane said, the company doing the survey will have access to databases that keep track of container movements, truck movements and commodity types. The researchers will then extract that data for Des Moines and Iowa and see how a facility would fit.

Even if the numbers don’t show that there is demand for the facility, Kane said, that would be vital information to know.

“We hope the numbers say (the facility is needed), but if the numbers say no, it is just never going to work in Des Moines, then that tells us we need to work on another strategy,” he said.

Kane is hopeful the study will get started in July. It’s estimated as being a 60-day project that would likely be wrapped up in September.

Madison County to join MPO

As a result of the city of West Des Moines expansion spilling into Madison County, officials there have asked to join the MPO as an advisory non-voting member.

The request was expected to be approved by the MPO, which acts as the formal transportation body for the Des Moines area, at last Thursday’s meeting, Kane said.

“Madison County has been out there and been involved in various ways for the last few years, and what they are doing now is formalizing that relationship,” Kane said. “The county supervisor is saying, ‘We would like to come sit at the table and listen to what is going on.'”

As an advisory non-voting member, Madison County can participate in discussions and serve on committees, but it won’t have the privilege to vote (Cumming and Indianola also are advisory non-voting members). Population thresholds in the MPO’s bylaws are the reason Madison County won’t have a vote at this point.

West Des Moines recently annexed land in Madison and Warren counties, and although most of the city’s growth has been to the west in Dallas County, Kane said future development is moving south and southeast.

“That is part of why you see Madison County wanting to know more what is going on, because the metro area is getting closer,” Kane said.

Dallas and Warren counties are already full members, and Kane said Madison County joining is something many in the MPO have thought was a good idea for a long time.

“We felt that Madison County’s supervisors should be aware of what the MPO is discussing, certainly with the western suburbs,” Kane said.

Kane also said that at least half of Warren and Madison counties’ residents leave their counties and go to work within the metro area.

“There is a real economic linkage between Madison County and the metro area,” he said.

Sustainable Planning Conference

The MPO is one of many partners helping 1000 Friends of Iowa host a one-day sustainable planning conference on June 29.

The conference aims to educate the public and policy-makers about the sustainability movement and will have lectures and discussions on sustainable development.

1000 Friends of Iowa came to the MPO initially for support, and the two groups collaborated to involve a host of other organizations, including the Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowans Fit For Life, the 6th Avenue Corridor, the Neighborhood and Natural Recreation Preservation Project, Center on Sustainable Communities, the Home Builders Association of Iowa and the Iowa Division of the Federal Highway Administration.

“Transportation planning can’t really be separate from land use planning versus economic development versus housing planning,” said Bethany Wilcoxon, a representative with the MPO who has been helping with the event. “So sustainability planning is really looking at all of those things together, considering the economic impacts, the environmental impacts and the social impacts.”

Wilcoxon said the MPO is trying to take a broader look at what sustainability means for transportation planning.

“It may be promoting pedestrian and bicycle trails and promoting public transit; it may be figuring out ways that people can car-pool,” she said. “We are just trying to be more conscientious of the impacts of the transportation system.”

The MPO recently launched www.portdesmoines.org, which is what the MPO calls a virtual inland port. Read the full story about how it relates to the need for an intermodal facility at http://ow.ly/21JEX.