Getting Around, Des Moines Travel, Transport and Car Rental
(Des Moines, Iowa - IA, USA)
The Iowa capital of Des Moines is located just to the south of the very center of Iowa, meaning that it is a good base to explore the entire state. Those who have opted for a rental car as their chosen form of transport will find that the network of interstates (I-35, I-80 and the I-235) and highways (US-5, US-6, US-28, US-46, US-65, US-69, US-163 and the US-415) surrounding Des Moines make it easy to travel both around and outside of the state capital.
Drivers should note that the icy and snowy winter months can make driving around the state of Iowa difficult at times, and often hazardous. Therefore, drivers should take extra care at this time of the year. Bus transport may also be affected during the winter, although buses are generally reliable and punctual, whatever the weather.
Downtown Des Moines is designed to prevent traffic congestion, with a series of one-way streets and roads with dedicated cycle lanes. A large number of visitors arriving in the city tend to travel here via either the I-35 (roughly north or south) or the I-80 (east or west), while it is the I-235 that leads into the city center itself.
Des Moines International Airport (DSM) / Arriving by Air
Address: 5800 Fleur Drive, Des Moines, Iowa (IA), 50321, USA
Tel: +1 515 256 5100
The Des Moines International Airport is located on the southwestern side of the city, being a little under 7 miles / 11 km from the downtown district and reached by taking Interstate I-235, exiting at junction 7B and following the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway / Fleur Drive. More than one million passengers now travel in and out of this busy airport each year, onboard airlines such as Allegiant Air, American Airlines, American Eagle, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, United Airlines, United Express and US Airways. Popular destinations include
Atlanta,
Charlotte,
Chicago,
Dallas,
Denver,
Detroit,
Las Vegas,
Los Angeles,
Minneapolis, Newark,
New York,
Phoenix and
Washington D.C.
Ground transport options at the Des Moines International Airport are comprehensive and come in the form of intra-city shuttles by Executive Express, taxis (the Capitol Cab Company, City Cab, Freedom, United Cab and Yellow Cab), buses (operated by the Des Moines Area Transit Authority - DART) and car hire. The main rental car companies are Advantage, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Thrifty. Hotel shuttle transport is also on hand and provides some guests with a free way to travel to their pre-booked accommodation. Participating hotels are the Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, Hotel Fort Des Moines, Marriott, Renaissance Savery and Sheraton.
Car Rental
The I-80 is a particularly important regional thoroughfare and runs between the east and west state borders, connecting Molines in
Illinois (east) and
Omaha in
Nebraska (west). Interstate I-35 allows you to travel northwards and southwards, heading all the way to Missouri's twin cities of Minneapolis and
St. Paul to the north, and
Kansas City in
Missouri to the south.
Buses
Tel: +1 515 283 8100
Bus transport in the Iowa state capital is provided by the Des Moines Area Regional Transit (DART), with a variety of routes connecting the principal destinations all through the day and for some lines, part-way into the evening as well. This bus transport serves not only the city, but the whole of the Greater Des Moines area, providing a very inexpensive and easy way to travel to outlying suburbs such as Alleman, Altoona, Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Granger, Grimes, Mitchellville, Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Urbandale and Windsor Heights.
Trains
The closest Amtrak railway station to Des Moines is to be found in Osceola, being situated roughly 45 miles / 72 km away and reached by taking Interstate I-35 for virtually the entire journey. Rail transport at Osceola's train station travels eastwards to Chicago and westwards, to Emeryville, nearby
San Francisco and located on the western coast of
California. This rail line is known as the 'California Zephyr'.
Taxis
Taxi transport is always a convenient option if you just wish to travel short distances around Des Moines, possibly being collected from the front door of your hotel. With the airport being so close, it is relatively inexpensive to simply use taxi cabs for this journey, which generally lasts in the region of 15 minutes or thereabouts. Local taxi companies operating in Des Moines include:
- Alpha Taxi - tel: +1 515 280 1813
- Budget Cab Company - tel: +1 515 223 6465
- City Cab - tel: +1 515 279 5555
- Genes Transportation - tel: +1 515 249 1127
- Google+
