Mobilizing Tomorrow

Mobilizing Tomorrow is the Des Moines Area MPO’s next long-range transportation plan. The plan will serve as the federally required long-range transportation plan and is among the first activities the MPO is undertaking to implement and refine The Tomorrow Plan’s transportation-related elements.

In late April, the MPO staff began soliciting projects to include in the plan. There were approximately 600 projects submitted from local governments and the Iowa Department of Transportation, all projects can be viewed by using the interactive map. The map is an online, interactive tool that allows easy access to the projects. Each project is accompanied by a pop-up menu that provides a brief description including purpose, sponsoring community, and approximate cost. Projects are displayed by decade of expected completion and are coded by color and symbol to represent different transportation facility types (such as bicycle lanes, road widening and other capacity improvements, off-street trails or transit corridors).

We invite you to share comments and thoughts on the proposed projects here.

Interactive Map Overview

MPO member communities have identified numerous potential candidate projects to enhance the Greater Des Moines transportation system and to address community needs. The map displays the proposed projects submitted to the MPO; this map does not represent the approved plan. Rather, it is a compilation of requested projects. The map also overlays performance measures such as regional trails gaps, areas of poor pavement conditions, areas of congestion, crash hot spots and more.

Using + Understanding the Map

  1. Click on the interactive map link above in the text.
  2. Zoom to area of interest using the zoom buttons on top left corner of map.
  3. Customize viewed layers, click the “Layers” menu on the top blue toolbar to view and select all layers or desired layers.
  4. View the legend in top left blue box to describe color codes.
  5. Click on a colored line or symbol to learn more about the candidate project. Here is where you can find the unique project ID needed in order to provide a comment.
  6. If you have a particular comment, click on “about” in the blue toolbar and click on “complete online form here” to submit comment. You must remember the project ID found in the description of the candidate project. The numbers in the ID do not indicate any preference or priority; they were assigned simply in the order in which projects were added to the list.

After the MPO collects comments on these projects, staff will evaluate each project based on several performance measures.

Data + Analysis Information