Council to hire traffic study to explore closing Third Street NE for Event Center

Who doesn't have a thought about the proposal from Physicians' Clinic of Iowa to close a portion of Second Avenue SE so PCI can proceed with what it calls its “ideal” plan for a medical building between 10th and 12th streets SE?

However, publicly expressed opinions have seemed fewer and far between about the city's own plan to close the one-block piece of Third Street NE between First Avenue East and A Avenue NE - a direct access point to Interstate 380 - so the city can build the Event Center's new convention facility there.

The City Council is slated this evening to hire Snyder & Associates Inc. of Cedar Rapids to conduct a traffic study to see what the ramifications will be of closing a block of Third Street NE for the city's Event Center plans. The cost of the study is not to exceed $75,000, according to the council resolution.

A just-completed traffic study by Anderson-Bogert Engineers and Surveyors Inc. of Cedar Rapids has concluded that the city's street system can cope with the closing of a stretch of Second Avenue SE for the PCI development. The study report was prepared for PCI, St. Luke's Hospital and Mercy Medical Center, the study report states.