DES MOINES, IOWA — Day four of my road trip found me crossing the Midwest. As much as I wanted to see the results of a revitalized downtown Omaha, I was running behind schedule and had to skip the eastern Nebraska city. I instead stopped in Des Moines, Iowa. I read about the emerging East Side neighbourhood in a previous issue of the Next American City magazine, so I was interested to see it up close.
The area is only 10 or 15 blocks in size, just east of the downtown, and benefits from decent pedestrian traffic due to its location just west of the state capitol building. Two distinct features about the neighbourhood were quite charming: the nicely manicured tree pits/garden beds and the bike rack public art program.
Below are a series of photos of the bike installations, landscape architecture, and street furniture of the ‘hood. You can also view my photoset on Flickr.
The racks are located on various corners with little plaques denoting who created the pieces.
The tree pits have three great features: large space for soil to absorb water and to grow roots, artful and distinctive metal edges, and vegetation that protects the soil from the hot sun. A few small gardens were found every three or four trees.
Just like Albuquerque and Denver, Des Moines uses pedestrian wayfinding signs (photo below and at top of post). Distances are measured in blocks rather than miles.
The sidewalks were used effectively too. Leading down from the capitol building were etchings in the sidewalk indicating when cities and counties joins the state of Iowa. There were about 30 of 40 stretching seven blocks on either side of the road.
Slightly cute was the doggie bag dispenser built right in the lamp post.
The requisite street-side trash bin shot and…
… real bike racks.
TOMORROW: “Iowa City goes pedestrian”
All photos by Matthew Blackett
BACKGROUND ON MY TRIP:
My trip is a “driveaway†for a vacationing snowbird — I’m driving his car back home in exchange for paying my plane fare and gas expenses (read my first post for more info on what a driveaway is). It was arranged by my friend David Smaller and his little organization called Hit The Road. You can join the Facebook group to receive notices of upcoming driveaway opportunities.
3 comments
I couldn’t help but notice a lack of bicycles using those racks. Is that because there were no bicycles around or because people are averse to using the racks for some reason?
I think becuz they were art installations no one was using them. There was a huge bike rally across the street where one of the racks was being used. Otherwise, people used the regular racks. Also, it had just finished raining so there wasn’t much hope of seeing riders other than the die-hards.
The dog one is hilarious! What a great idea.
The tree pits are really elegant, too. And they probably pay for themselves because the trees don’t die as quickly.
I also love the idea of measuring distance in blocks for pedestrians – use a unit people can understand immediately.