Residential roads heart of 2017 street repairs

CEDAR RAPIDS — Richard Phillips has lived off C Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids for 18 years and each year the street condition has gotten worse.

Street crews fill the potholes with asphalt in the spring, and by the next year new ones open, he said. It's clear the road needs fixing, he added, and by this fall he should get his wish.

'The concrete is terrible,' said Phillips, 76. 'Every spring I have to rake boulders of concrete dug up from the snowplow, dig them out of my lawn before I can mow.'

C Avenue is to be reconstructed between Collins Road NE and 40th Street NE. It is among 30 street projects expected to cost $20 million included in the fourth construction season of Paving for Progress, a 10-year street repair program funded through a voter-approved 1-cent local-option sales tax.

The C Avenue improvements, which began Monday, include street replacement, storm sewer improvements, water main replacement, on-street bike lanes and sidewalks from 40th Street to Nilsen Road.

Phillips is pleased to see C Avenue on the list, and isn't giving too much thought to the expected closures this summer on a road that sees some 9,000 vehicle per day. However, he and neighbors have qualms with plans for new sidewalks and the additional surface to shovel in the winter, he said.

'The sidewalks I think are a joke,' Phillips said. 'Hardly anyone walks there.'

Sidewalks have always been a companion to Paving for Progress projects, but city officials are considering a policy shift so sidewalks are prioritized separately from street projects, and in some cases will not be included.

C Avenue is one of the signature projects in the 2017 Paving for Progress season, which is to hit full swing in the coming weeks and should wrap up in November. Pirc Tobin Construction Inc., of Alburnett, was awarded a $2 million contract for the C Avenue work during the Feb. 28 City Council meeting.

The mild winter allowed several projects to get underway early, including Northwood Drive NE between 42nd Street and Brookland Drive, West Post Road NW between Plainview Drive and Gordon Drive, and Madison Street NE between 29th and 32nd streets, according to city officials.

At least 10 additional projects are in the queue should the 2017 slate get completed earlier than expected.

focus on residential projects

C Avenue is one of the few arterial streets in a program dominated by residential projects, such as 14th Avenue SE from 36th to 42nd streets. The $2.1 million project will include concrete reconstruction and replacement of the storm sewer, sanitary sewer and water main.

'This year, more than the previous years, we are really hitting residential, more lightly traveled streets, harder,' said Doug Wilson, Cedar Rapids Paving for Progress program manager. 'There's a lot of streets out there in the residential areas, in the 60s neighborhoods, that are in that fair to good condition.'

The city's streets department plans to tackle many of the smaller asphalt and overlay projects in residential neighborhoods, each costing less than $68,000.

City forces will handle 3.21 linear miles of road work at a cost of $1 million while reconstruction-heavy projects are to account for 4.76 miles of road work worth $19 million.

In the past, the city didn't have the budget to deal with lower traffic roads or provide the upkeep that can extend the life of a road before deterioration. Before Paving for Progress, Cedar Rapids paid for much of its road work budget through bonds, spending on average $8 million to $10 million per year, Wilson said. The lack of investment in streets helped build the backlog that remains today, Wilson said.

Even with the larger Paving or Progress budget, the need exceeds the money available, Wilson said.

The city has spent $41 million on 76 projects covering 24 miles of road through Paving for Progress since it began, Wilson said.

Other highlights

Other highlights for the 2017 season include reconstruction of Northwood Drive NE from 42nd Street to Brookland Drive. The $739,706 project includes reconstructing concrete pavement, replacing storm sewers, adding sidewalk and making curb repairs and Americans with Disabilities Act improvements.

'It's one of those streets that we'd get calls on since I've been here but never quite rose up enough the priority list based on our past funding availability,' Wilson said. 'If you're familiar with it, it is in terrible shape.'

Seminole Valley Road NE will be upgraded from 42nd Street NE to Fords Crossing Road. This includes partial reconstruction and partial pavement overlay, correction of site distances and the addition of pedestrian and bike infrastructure.

Cedar Rapids City Council was expected to approve a $3.4 million contract with Rathje Construction, Co. to complete the Seminole Valley project this October.

vision of connectivity

Seminole Valley Road is an example of a Paving for Progress project that fits into a larger transportation vision for the area.

'By the time we get done with this you'll have a constant path for pedestrians and bicycles from Seminole Valley Park back out to Edgewood Road, and we also have 42nd in the program from Edgewood to Atlantic in the next couple years,' Wilson said. 'Eventually, you will have a bike lane from the trail at 42nd Street and I-380 all the way to the park.' 'Not only are we doing the streets, there's also a lot of connectivity we are making progress on,' Wilson said.

Other notable road work is funded outside the Paving for Progress budget. Projects include work along First Avenue East from 27th to 34th streets NE, one-way to two-way street conversions downtown, a new roundabout on Kirkwood Boulevard near College Community School District and realignment of 51st Street NE and Park Place NE at Council Street NE.

Open houses with information about infrastructure projects, including Paving for Progress, one-way to two-way street conversion and other projects are scheduled for today from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 Fifth Ave. SE.

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