Meeting scheduled on Forevergreen Road exit on Interstate 380

NORTH LIBERTY - The Iowa Department of Transportation will hold its first public meeting about plans for a new Interstate 380 interchange at Forevergreen Road at the south end of North Liberty.

The meeting is not a requirement under federal guidelines, but strong interest, particularly from developers, prompted the Iowa DOT to schedule the informational meeting Nov. 18.

'When we had the meeting for the 80/380 interchange replacement, we heard a lot of interest in this,” said Cathy Cutler, a transportation planner for the Iowa DOT. 'There's a lot of developers interested in this area because of land uses and because of proximity to the metros.”

At the Nov. 18 meeting, DOT officials will present the footprint of the interchange and related improvements along Forevergreen Road from Jasper Avenue NW east to Highway 965.

The Iowa DOT has the $15 million, two-year project slated to begin in fiscal 2019, but the agency wants to bump it up sooner, possibly beginning construction in the fall of 2017, Cutler said.

Iowa DOT officials are optimistic the project meets eight federal justifications, allowing for the fast-tracked timeline, she said. The justification report will be submitted to the federal highway division this year, with a possible answer in the first half of 2016, she said.

The Iowa DOT is eager to move quickly on the Forevergreen project as well as related local road improvements in anticipation of the $270 million replacement of the Interstate 80/380 cloverleaf interchange. Two travel lanes in both directions will remain open throughout that five-year project, which is set to begin in 2019, but major disruptions are likely.

The Forevergreen interchange would provide additional travel options for motorists and could be included in a short-term traffic incident management plan in case of emergency.

Cutler said there's been some confusion. The Forevergreen interchange isn't intended to be a long-term detour for the 80/380 project that would route traffic through North Liberty and Coralville; it would be only for emergencies.

North Liberty also faces pressure to move quickly to upgrade roads serving the interchange.

The rural area is mostly gravel, but development is fast creeping in, including a new Hy-Vee slated for Forevergreen and Highway 965, about a mile east of the proposed interchange.

North Liberty spokesman Nick Bergus said the fast-growing city wants the new interchange, but with several other major projects in the works, funding road improvements remains a question mark.

North Liberty would need to pave Forevergreen Road west of Jones Boulevard and also part of Kansas Avenue, Bergus said.

The Iowa DOT wants to widen Forevergreen Road from the interstate to Highway 965 so it can handle four lanes of traffic.

The DOT could pick up 25 percent of the cost of widening Forevergreen and might be able to loan the city the additional money, Cutler said. Such a financing deal is rare for the Iowa DOT, and how it would work isn't yet known, she said.

A preliminary estimate for the local road work is $8 million, she said.

If You Go

' What: Informational meeting on I-380 interchange at Forevergreen Road.

' When: 5 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 18.

' Where: North Liberty Recreation Center, 520 W. Cherry St.