Officials worry DMV's move to Coralville limits access despite added space

The Iowa City Department of Motor Vehicles location has moved.

A new DMV office opened in Coralville last week in what some officials claim was a sudden decision that limits community access.

The Eastdale Plaza DMV location in Iowa City closed July 26, less than a week after the state Department of Transportation announced they would move all services to 2303 Jones Blvd. in Coralville, on the north side of Interstate 80.

“The new location, between Theisen’s and Costco, was chosen after an extensive search for a space that could better accommodate the volume of customers in this area,” the state DOT said in a statement on July 21. “It will offer customers a larger, more spacious and modern facility to do business. We will offer the same services, just at a new location.”

Local officials worried about limited bus access

Iowa City Councilor Shawn Harmsen expressed concerns to the Press-Citizen about how the DMV's move decreases access because current transit lines do not come close to the new facility.

Others have also posted in forums throughout the community, including Facebook and Reddit, with similar concerns of access.

Currently, the Coralville 5th Street bus route takes riders within about three-quarters of a mile of the new location on Jones Blvd., stopping at the intersection of Commerce Drive and Commercial Park.

Buses along this route arrive once an hour, pedestrians who walk from the stop to the DMV would have to contend with a hill and minimal sidewalks.

“They'd walk either on an unfinished hillside [and] there's no sidewalk,” Harmsen said. “And certainly that's only accessible if you are healthy enough to walk on uneven ground.”

Coralville Mayor Meghann Foster told the Press-Citizen she and her city staff weren't given much notice ahead of the DOT’s move, learning about the new location in the July 21 announcement.

They'll address the access issue in the coming weeks, she said, already having held conversations with local leaders.

“We are looking at all kinds of options as far as how to get some transit out there or get transportation for people that need it,” Foster said. “I can't say a whole lot more than that, just because plans are not set in stone.”

Eligible residents can ride Johnson County’s SEATS paratransit program to the new DMV, but beyond that, Coralville continues to evaluate solutions.

Iowa City's location had a bus stop directly outside of the building as part of the city's Downtown Interchange route.

Iowa City’s two-year fare-free pilot program debuted on Tuesday, featuring arrivals every 20 minutes. Rides on the Coralville bus system remain $1 per passenger each way or $2 for a 24-hour pass.

DMV move part of a years-long search for additional space

The search for a new building began in 2020, as the pandemic closed down malls, including the Eastdale Plaza, home to the old Iowa City location, Doty told the Press-Citizen.

The pandemic prevented the DMV from running its usual hours because of a lack of exterior doors, incentivizing the department to eliminate that location as soon as possible, Doty said.

The department outlined a few goals in its search for a new home, prioritizing nearby bus lines as well as its need for more space. The Iowa City location was roughly 3,000 square feet in size. The Coralville DMV is nearly double that.

The department also hoped to remain in Iowa City, exploring a nearby location, though it far exceeded the budget set by the state’s Department of Administrative Services, Doty said.

Late announcement was intended

The DOT’s July 21 announcement revealing DMV's move, just six days before the Iowa City location closed, was by design, Doty said.

“We've learned from the past that when we move and we announce that move too soon, people go to the wrong location, and then they're frustrated because they assume we're already open there,” Doty said. “And we did not want to cause confusion.”

The July 21 news release helped notify people with appointments as well as walk-ins, she said.

DOT says they tried to change bus route

Once the Department of Transportation settled on the Coralville spot, which has nearly double the square footage of the previous location, staff reached out to the city to try tweak Coralville's bus routes, Iowa Department of Transportation’s Customer Services Bureau director Darcy Doty said.

That request did not succeed, she said.

“In every other move that we've done across the state in the past five years, public transit has been able to adjust their routes for us,” Doty said. “This is the first time that a public transit office has not been able to adjust their routes. Then, we reached out to them once we knew we had a move-in date and they declined again.”

The city’s Parking and Transportation director, Vicky Robrock, confirmed in an email Tuesday that changes were considered, but ultimately a fit wasn't found.

“The City of Coralville has evaluated their current routes and schedules to determine if a current route could be extended,” Robrock wrote. “The new Iowa DOT location is too far away from any existing routes to incorporate such an extension without significantly increasing headways and also having implications to other routes.”

Foster said that hastily-made route alterations would create a domino effect, impacting service in Coralville and rippling all the way to Iowa City.

The Coralville DMV is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on Twitter @ryanhansen01.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: New Coralville DMV location expands space but could limit access