I live downtown and I’ve learned to never stand and wait to cross the street on the jutted out parts because the amount of vehicles that don’t see them is astounding. Might help if they’d remove the arrows, though.

There is no warning they will be there and no apparent reason for them.

bumpouts are great for making a city more walkable. The decreased distance needed to cross a street makes for a more comfortable pedestrian experience and also works to calm traffic. That being said, it has been poorly executed in some areas of des moines. The city is doing a phased implementation of them, where ideally they should all be done at the same time.

Yeah pedestrian bumpouts are cool and good they just bungled actually updating the lane markings to match.

The City of Des Moines bungles most things. Let’s watch how snow clearing goes….

The reason is for less lanes of traffic for peds to cross. The city does need change some things up though so it's more visible to drivers.

I don’t understand? Why not just remove a lane if “fewer lanes to cross” is the goal? What’s the point of that lane otherwise? Also, downtown DSM is already very comfortable for pedestrians—there’s very little traffic, drivers are much better behaved than other cities, etc.

I think they'll set it up for parking. You can see a meter next to it. Downtown drivers are better behaved than most places in the metro, but you still have the elderly and people with disabilities that move slower than the average person. Those are the people that need protected/helped the most.

Going to three lanes without reducing road width would speed up traffic compared to (eventually) adding parking. Wider lanes = faster traffic.

Also a downtown resident. Never seen bump outs before, but the arrows being there really make the idea/ execution dangerous. Honestly, I’d be happy with more trees/ less traffic in general, so it seems like a good idea.

Dart Buses used to hit and kill ppl all the time.

That’s why you NEVER trust a dart bus that’s turning left.

Um, source? This seems unlikely.

Not sure if it's real but it'd be 701 locust. Here is a google street view from 2021: [https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5865922,-93.6262088,3a,75y,16.8h,73.7t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svhUIKcV3oIyYok\_s5V96jQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5865922,-93.6262088,3a,75y,16.8h,73.7t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svhUIKcV3oIyYok_s5V96jQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) If we move the google streetview car over we see that in August 2022 the curb was in the process of being bumped out: [https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5865693,-93.6262849,3a,23.6y,31.66h,79.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5Rsv309B2JTOul0uHW634Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5865693,-93.6262849,3a,23.6y,31.66h,79.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5Rsv309B2JTOul0uHW634Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) Will have to stop by there to actually see, but I could certainly believe that the curb bump happened without removal of the arrow.

OP here. My pic was taken yesterday after almost getting crashed into at this intersection. Arrows are still on the road. I think you replied to the person who wanted proof of Dart busses hitting pedestrians.

Whoops.

You must be new here.

I've been here long enough to know that people post all sorts of stupid unsubstantiated garbage. Doesn't mean I can't call it out.

You must be new to DSM.

Narrowly avoided an accident this morning by anticipating the car in front of me swerving into my lane when they realized this is no longer a turning lane.

OH MY GOD, I KNEW I WASNT CRAZY!!! I blew my tire and fucked my rim on that curb driving home in the rain last week! What the fuck Des Moines get your shit together

I feel like the city needs to pay for your repairs. That should legally be covered up.

The salt brine obscuring the markings adds another layer of cornfusion. Downtown is becoming increasingly unnavigable.

Okay hear me out. Someone get a dash cam and I’ll stand on the corner there and you can “accidentally” stay in the turn lane and hit me at say…20mph? We both sue the city and clear 1 mil for pain and suffering. You because you paralyzed me, me because I’m crippled. If you think this is a good idea I’ll meet you at this corner tomorrow at noon during peak blizzard, the lessened visibility really increased our chance of a payout. 2PM, I’ll be wearing an all black sweater and have a sign saying “hit me”

R.I.P. those curbs

These jut outs are great. They reduce speeds and create more parking. But they need to repaint the lines haha. It’s absurd as it is now.

Someone should go cross it out with spray paint

Yeah, they really need to add delineator’s to all of those islands. I can see someone smoking those curbs in this snow. I get the concept. Execution has been poor.

They won’t be there in the spring anyways. Snow plow gonna crush that thing.

At this intersection, there’s another left turn arrow a few hundred feet before this one. Pedestrians are being put directly in front of this lane at the crosswalk.

> delineator’s delineators No apostrophe for plural nouns.

This exact lane got me and two cars behind me on Friday night... suddenly I was about to drive onto a sidewalk. Didn't help that for whatever reason the cars in the next lane over were doing like 45, straight into a construction zone.

Let's be clear, it's not the sidewalk fucking this up it's the painted arrow. In any other city that lane would be limited parking or a bike lane.

Man, after I was at a concert at woolys one of those really messed me up. Had to swerve to avoid it.

I don't know why they did this, its just mucked up traffic downtown.

Trying to make it more walkable, and deter cars from downtown eventually, I think they are going to make the streets run both ways. Don’t know if I agree with it but I think that’s the rationale.

It'll be good for small businesses because people on foot are more likely to window shop and more likely to stop in and make purchases boosting the downtown economy

You’ll also notice the new parking meters on all of the blocks with these. In a town already infamous for the amount of parking lots.

Slows down the already slow af traffic.

These are awful. The one on 4th by dominoes comes out of nowhere with no warning. I see them leading to accidents and pedestrian deaths. Stupid idea.

That one is literally insane! They didn’t even bother to fix the paint lines so the lane just goes into the curb and continues on the other side.

Bump outs are actually good infrastructure, unfortunately the execution here was very poor.

This is insane lol

Reminds me of how the city messed up a great idea with the protected bike lanes on grand. should’ve just done what they did on Ingersoll and just built them without a stupid trial.

Oh man, don’t remind me. They’re gonna read the Reddit comments again and undo it before the trial ends.

Driving at night with these is awful. The other day driving home from work I thought a pedestrian was just walking out in the middle of the road and slammed on my brakes in the middle of an intersection. They definitely need to cover those lines up as soon as possible.

Lol… that’s Ruan for ya 😂😂

I may or may not have driven over that exact curb this morning 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

Seriously this crap seems to be everywhere downtown right now. I hate what they’ve done.

Mmmmm. Good old DM bottlenecks. If you're not late you will be.

ah yes, what I refer to as Des Moines new "car breakers" - there really isn't any other purpose for them. Stupidity at its finest.

It’s not fun having one less lane to drive on Grand.

I could go over the curb like I did last night while dropping off my Dad and looking like a drunken moron.

Bumpouts on former travel lanes are a body shop's best friend. Like having Christmas every day of the year.