UI starts bid process on HESCO barrier removal

IOWA CITY - Removal of the temporary floodwall at the University of Iowa's Art Building West has begun, and work to deconstruct the miles of HESCO barriers erected as flood protection around campus is likely to start in the next few days as well, officials said Monday.

The university will take bids today (Tuesday) for the removal of the HESCO barriers and repair of the landscape at the four campus locations where the flood barriers now sit, Spokesman Tom Moore said. The work is expected to start within a few days of the bid process, hopefully later this week or early next week, depending on when the selected contractor is available to begin, he said.

The HESCO barriers around Mayflower Residence Hall on N. Dubuque Street will be removed by the end of July, with the removal of the remaining HESCO walls around campus complete by Aug. 12 to prepare for the arrival of students for the fall semester, which starts Aug. 26, Moore said.

The extent of necessary landscape repairs will be determined as the HESCO walls are removed. UI officials have said they expect the construction and removal of the flood protection measures this year to cost about $5 million.

Removal of the "invisible floodwall" system around Art Building West is a separate project, Moore said. That system was constructed around the building as mitigation after the 2008 flood of the Iowa River, and this year was the first time the university installed it during a flooding threat.

The floodwall around Art Building West should be fully removed by the middle of this week, UI officials said. One lane of N. Riverside Drive is closed during that work.