Snookies Intersection to Get New Design

The intersection of 41st Street and Beaver Avenue next to Price Chopper and Snookies Malt Shop will get a new design in 2025.

The Des Moines city council approved a contract of $680,000 to rebuild the intersection, which the Iowa DOT has labelled as having a high probability for collisions.

The intersection, also known locally as Beaver Bend, presents problems for northbound motorists on 41st Street. The angle of the intersection makes it difficult to see traffic coming from the right. But the bigger problem is trying to guess if southbound vehicles on Beaver will bend left to stay on Beaver or continue straight to go southbound on 41st Street. 

The city conducted a traffic study in 2018 and found “many close calls were observed at this location of cars wanting to continue straight from 41st Street to northbound on Beaver Avenue. It was noted that cars were confused distinguishing which southbound vehicles were continuing south onto 41st Street and which vehicles were continuing on Beaver Avenue. Observations indicated many occurrences of abrupt braking to avoid potential crashes.”

In the ten years prior to the 2018 traffic study, there were 21 crashes causing injuries.

City engineers wrote to the city council: "To address the safety issues at this intersection, it is recommended to realign the intersection to a 90-degree T-intersection. The realignment of the intersection would provide additional northbound queueing storage at the Beaver Avenue and Franklin Avenue intersection. Southbound right turning traffic onto 41st Street would be slowed by the turning radius of the realigned intersection. By defining the southbound turning path, more visual clues for gap decision are provided to northbound traffic on 41st Street. Additionally, the pedestrian crossing of 41st Street is reduced from approximately 50 feet to 30 feet. The proposed intersection alignment will limit the exposure for pedestrians and bicyclists on Beaver Avenue, as well as slow southbound traffic going from Beaver Avenue to 41st Street since this project will create a “right-turn” turning movement as opposed to the “through” movement that exists today."

The intersection work required purchase of the property where Players Lounge now exists. That business closed and moved to a new location in anticipation of the new intersection design.

Construction is expected to be completed by fall of 2025.