Muscatine Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan

This Bike and Pedestrian Plan was created by Graduate Students from the University of Iowa as part of the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities. The City of Muscatine committed itself to increasing the ease of alternative transportation through its comprehensive plan and designation as a Blue Zone community. To achieve this goal, the authors of this plan, with the assistance of project partners in Muscatine and faculty advisors from the University of Iowa, developed a plan for the City of Muscatine, using a comprehensive approach to improve biking and walking within the city. This plan adheres to the 5 E (Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation) structure commonly found in nationally recognized bike and pedestrian plans, and is endorsed by the League of American Bicyclists and Walk Friendly Communities for its holistic approach to transportation planning. Sidewalk and trail facility construction projects were located and ranked, from most to least important, by a cutting-edge GIS model that compares the current infrastructure to an ideal network of sidewalks and trails. Where the two differ, the model determines the gap’s relationship to destinations that attract high amounts of traffic within Muscatine. The attractive and common travel destinations include schools, parks, businesses, the downtown riverfront area, and bus-stops. The model then compares the gaps using their proximity, via walking along sidewalks or trails to give scores for each based on how many destinations it might reasonably serve. Considerations also included safety concerns by including pedestrian vehicle conflicts in the modeling process. Potential infrastructure projects, in this plan, are broken up into three different time horizons (immediate, middle, and long term), depending on their rank, providing the City with a prioritized implementation strategy. Areas around schools were deemed the most crucial concern by community input, while bus stops were deemed the least. The highest ranked projects, as determined by the model, are concentrated around Franklin Elementary, the northern Park Avenue corridor, and the proposed trails along Mad Creek and Cedar Street connecting to the riverfront. Accompanying these physical projects, are way-finding signage recommendations to increase the ease of navigation and information available to people using the trails to traverse Muscatine; signs will go along existing trails, near trailheads, at intersections, and near parks. Emphasizing the natural wonders that Muscatine has to offer, like the Mississippi Riverfront, the regional Mississippi River Trail, or the many parks in town (including a world class Soccer Complex), is another hope of this plan. By connecting the many parks and trails in Muscatine to its history, culture, and economy, this plan hopes to help grow awareness and usage of these facilities. To do this, the plan also provides a promotional smartphone application using virtual signage to help people see, in real time, what is around them and how to get there. This app will include destinations of schools, parks, businesses, and more! This plan is not the final answer to Muscatine’s alternative transportation needs. Instead, this plan provides a framework for analyzing the current bike and pedestrian network, along with gathering community input to come up with a plan of action that is consistent with the vision of the city. The authors of this plan have gone through that process and provided the city with implementation strategies, funding opportunities, and target goals. However, the process will have to be duplicated and the plan updated as the vision of Muscatine continues to grow and change over time. It is our belief that if this plan of action is carried out, that Muscatine could be recognized by the League of American Bicyclists, Walk Friendly Communities, or Blue Zones for their considerable efforts towards livability and transportation, in the very near future.