Railroad track removal opens more development in NewBo

CEDAR RAPIDS - Nearly a mile of abandoned railroad track is to be removed along the Fourth Street SE corridor, opening the door for the 16th Avenue SE extension next summer and more development in the New Bohemia District.

The work to remove track, ties, ballast and sidewalk and to replace the sidewalk was approved this week by the Cedar Rapids City Council. The project is estimated to cost up to $478,000.

The Fourth Street corridor was abandoned by Union Pacific several years ago and does not have roadway for motor vehicles, except for a block south of 12th Avenue SE.

'It opens up NewBo for a lot of different uses,” said Doug Wilson, Paving for Progress program manager for the city of Cedar Rapids.

Dale Todd, president of the Southside Investment Board, applauded the city for deciding to work to this stretch.

'This has been a priority for us for the last six years,” Todd said. 'It's a critical piece, and it is going to help future development in that quadrant and that district.”

The project has an early start date of Jan. 23, with a late start date of March 6, and is due for completion by May 26, according to a bidding document. Approximately 3,940 linear feat of railroad track needs to be removed, according to the document.

The work is focused on two areas - along the Fourth Street SE corridor from Ninth Avenue to 10th Avenue and along the railroad corridor from 12th Avenue SE south to the Cedar River.

Cedar Rapids acquired the right of way to the abandoned track a few years ago, Wilson said.

The abandoned line once served the old Sinclair meatpacking site and headed south to Ely. It connects with the old railroad bridge over the Cedar River, which was knocked down in the 2008 flood and some hope to rebuild into a pedestrian bridge, referred to as the 'sleeping giant.”

Removing the railway also prepares the area for the extension of 16th Avenue SE - formerly 14th Avenue SE - from Fourth Street to Fifth Street with a roundabout in front of St. Wenceslaus Church, 1224 Fifth St. SE. The extension has been discussed for 20 years and is slated to occur this summer as part of Paving for Progress, Wilson said.

Jim Piersall, a St. Wenceslaus trustee and landowner in that area, said they've been waiting patiently and are glad to see the tracks removed so the extension can go through.

'We are definitely looking forward to that,” he said. 'We've been pushing to have the extension of 16th Avenue occur for a long time. I think once the road is in, there will be a lot of development along the extension.”

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com