Big DOT road projects coming in central Iowa

AMES, Iowa — Summer construction season has road crews working hard. In central Iowa there are four huge projects waiting to be done.

“Right now, central Iowa has a lot of construction going on and and it’s just going to increase from year to year and in the coming years in the metro area,” said Scott Nixon, DOT District One Construction Engineer. “We’ve got some big projects coming yet later this year and next year.”

One project is widening I-35 to six lanes from Ankeny to Huxley, that is underway, and will be finished in 2028.

The East Mixmaster is still on track to be completed in 2028.

The Hickman Road I-35/80 interchange will be under construction from 2024 to 2028.

The Southwest Mixmaster will be starting in 2026, and be completed in stages, in 2029.

At the heart of all the improvements, is a projected increase in traffic in the whole system. That is already impacting traffic on I-35.

“It’s growing congestion you can see during the peak times we have numerous problems with traffic congestion up in that area, starting at 36th Street in Ankeny and it goes north, up north of 210,” said Nixon. “We will see changing traffic patterns from time to time yet, this year will have another traffic shift at the rest area, once we close the interchange up at 210 we will have traffic detoured on other routes and we will see some changing patterns for next year as well.”

The Iowa DOT is well aware there are many questions about these upcoming projects, so they created DSM Interstates web page , and DSM Interstates Facebook site which has many details on each project, as well as updates.

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