Iowa City area expanding at the edges

Jim Fausett knows what it's like to have a town grow up around you.

In 1959, when Fausett built a house on 14th Avenue in Coralville, it was the edge of town.

“It was a gravel road at that time, and the sewer was not here yet,” said Fausett, Coralville's longtime mayor.

The infrastructure followed as Coralville grew from a population of 2,000 in 1960 to more than 18,000 today. Now, Fausett and his wife, Carol, live smack in the middle of town.

In fact, the entire Iowa City metro area has grown around them. That expansion continues, and it will have to be addressed in the coming decades, just as it has in the past half-century.

In what is known as the Iowa City Urbanized Area - Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, University Heights, Tiffin - the population is projected to increase from 100,734 in 2008 to 126,626 in 2035, a 25.7 percent increase. The 2035 projection is from a long-range transportation plan by the Johnson County Council of Governments, a countywide planning organization better known as JCCOG.

Most of that growth is expected to occur on the north and west sides of the area in North Liberty, Coralville and Tiffin, and some on the far east side of Iowa City.

It's not a surprise, then, that the transportation plan calls for major road construction on the periphery of the metro area. This includes extending existing roads like Oakdale Boulevard, Forevergreen Road, Jones Boulevard, Highway 965 and McCollister Boulevard.

Public transit will be important, too. The Iowa City metro area led the state with more than 6 million rides last year, according to JCCOG.

There's been a push for Amtrak service from Iowa City to Chicago and, in a separate project, light rail service between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids.

The Iowa City-Chicago line, estimated to cost $233 million, recently lost out on an initial round of federal funding for rail projects, but backers said they'd keep trying.

A study of the $70 million Iowa City-Cedar Rapids route completed three years ago found the idea was feasible, and now it's up to local officials and the public to decide what they want to do, said Josh Schamberger, who helped lead the committee that did the study and is president of the Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The two proposed rail lines link to another aspect of the area's growth. Instead of just expanding, local officials also hope to redevelop existing parts of their cities, a concept known as infill.

Iowa City and Coralville each have unveiled plans in recent months that fit the infill model, and both incorporate passenger rail.

Iowa City wants to redevelop the district south of downtown into a dense, walkable neighborhood with a mix of housing, recreational, commercial and employment opportunities.

Coralville has similar plans for 60 acres south of Fifth Street that flooded in 2008. Coralville is nearly surrounded by other municipalities, which limits its expansion, but infill development is an answer to that, Fausett said.

“I think by utilizing particular areas we can actually continue our growth somewhat and continue development,” he said.

These road, rail and development projects will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Funding for large transportation projects typically comes from the federal government. Will that money be there for this work?

“As long as we're talking in terms of decades, yes,” said John Yapp, JCCOG executive director.

That's important to remember: None of this will happen overnight. Yapp said to think about the Iowa City area 25 years ago and how much it has changed since.

Or ask Fausett what a difference 50 years can make.