Council decides to stick to five-lane plan for 10th Street SE

CEDAR RAPIDS - A vigorous debate over the future of 10th Street SE flared for a time Wednesday over whether the road should narrow to turn the emerging Medical District into a more “serene” spot or widen to handle the projected increases in traffic.

In the end, a majority of City Council members sided with the previously approved plan to turn the entire stretch of 10th Street SE from First to Third avenues SE into a five-lane street, instead of a more pedestrian-friendly three lanes.

At one point, the three-lane idea was referred to as a “spine of serenity.” But most of the council agreed a deal was a deal.

Months ago, the council signed a development agreement with Physicians' Clinic of Iowa (PCI), which calls for 10th Street SE between First and Third avenues SE to be five lanes.

Council member Kris Gulick, who said the council should abide by the agreement unless PCI was open to changing it, argued that the city can narrow the street later.

Mike Sundall, CEO of PCI, said no one from City Hall had talked to PCI about changing the width of the street. Sundall said his board wants to stick to the five-lane agreement.

Ted Townsend, president/CEO of St. Luke's Hospital, and Tim Charles, president/CEO of Mercy Medical Center, also favored the five-lane plan because they did not want to disrupt construction now under way.

Charles pointed out that the Medical District has not yet formally been created. He added that property owners, including the hospitals and PCI, will spend a lot of time talking about traffic flow once the district is in place. Charles suggested that a quieter spot in the emerging district might be between Eighth and 10th streets SE with 10th Street SE viewed as an “edge” to carry more traffic rather than a “spine” to carry less traffic.

Council members Monica Vernon, Pat Shey and Don Karr spoke in favor of a three-lane 10th Street SE, which they said fit with their conception of a Medical District as a place for patients and people to slow down and spend time.

Council members noted that the council needs to engage in a more long-range discussion about the street grid system in the Medical District. In particular, they need to focus on one-way Seventh Street NE/SE as it comes off Interstate 380 and one-way Eighth Street NE/SE as it takes traffic to Interstate 380.

The city's consulting traffic engineer, Jeff Morrow, of Anderson Bogert Engineers and Surveyors, recommended that 10th Street SE from First to Third avenues SE widen to five lanes, and said it would be “hard to handle all the traffic” without widening.