Study: Closing Third Street NE will add a minute for most drivers

Get ready to add on average a minute to your life behind the wheel for every time you now use Third Street NE between First and A avenues NE to get to Interstate 380 or to cross the 5-in-1 bridge to northwest Cedar Rapids.

The extra minute of drive time on average per motorist is what a City Hall-commissioned traffic-impact study concludes will be required when the one-block-long Third Street NE permanently closes to make way for city's new convention center slated to go up next to the U.S. Cellular Center and Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel.

The City Council on Tuesday evening voted to vacate Third Street NE on March 7 to prepare for the pre-construction demolition of the hotel ballrooms and meeting rooms above Third Street NE and everything except The Roosevelt apartments in the block between First and A avenues NE and Second and Third streets NE.

Traffic peaks on Third Street NE between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. when motorists are leaving the downtown for the day, according to the Convention Complex study by Snyder & Associates, Cedar Rapids.

The study notes that motorists now using Third Street NE are headed one of four places: the southbound Interstate 380 on-ramp; the Quaker Co. plant; across the 5-in-1 bridge to F Avenue NW; and A Avenue NE to northbound Interstate 380 at Eighth Street NE.

The average added time behind the wheel is estimated at 37 seconds, 30 seconds, 31 seconds and 81 seconds respectively for the four destinations. On average for all motorists that now use Third Street NE, 58 seconds of extra drive time will be needed once Third Street NE closes, the study says.

The study recommends that the city change road markings on northbound Third Street SE approaching First Avenue SE to demarcate right-turn and left-turn lanes since motorists no longer will be able to continue to proceed across First Avenue on what is now Third Street NE.

Some motorists that have used Third Street NE will turn left on First Avenue NE, right on Second Street NE and right again on A Avenue NE to get where they are going. Traffic won't have to stop on A Avenue NE at Third Street NE as it does now once Third Street NE no longer exists. However, the study says some review of A Avenue NE at what is now Third Street NE will need to made for pedestrians once the stop sign is removed from the intersection.

Other motorists that have used Third Street NE will turn right on First Avenue East to get to their destinations.

The Snyder & Associates study notes that the closing of Third Street NE isn't happening in a vacuum. The study says the closing of Second Avenue SE between 10th and 12th streets SE for a the Physicians' Clinic of Iowa's new medical building will have some impact on the local street network within the area of the Convention Complex traffic study.

The study recommends a second phase of the traffic-impact study to assess impacts to the new street configuration at times of heavy use at the city's new Convention Complex when it opens in early 2013. The second phase also should review traffic flows at the intersections of First Avenue East and A Avenue NE at Seventh and Eighth streets, which are currently experiencing “operational problems that may be worsened” with additional traffic to the Convention Complex development, the study says.

The Convention Complex study also makes note of another study, which is being conducted by the Iowa Department of Transportation to evaluate the need for improvements on Interstate 380 through Cedar Rapids. The Interstate 380 ramps in and near the Convention Complex are among items slated for review.

The Convention Complex study also points out that the downtown is slated shortly to lose three parking ramps, the city's flood-damaged First Street Parkade and two private ramps near the U.S. Cellular Center, both of which are coming down to make way for the new convention center.