Announcement coming Friday on funding for flood recovery projects in Iowa City

IOWA CITY - U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will be in Iowa City on Friday, and local officials hope he's bringing good news for their funding requests for flood-related projects.

Locke will be announcing “significant investments” by the Commerce Department to help with recovery efforts from the 2008 flood, according to a news release. Details on what exactly those investments may be was not available Wednesday.

Iowa City has applied for two grants from the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration: $22 million for the relocation of the north wastewater treatment plant and $3 million for the elevation of Dubuque Street and Park Road bridge. All three structures flooded in 2008.

“I'm hoping that the fact that they're making the announcement in Iowa City that we'll be part of the investment,” Interim City Manager Dale Helling said.

Locke is not making any other stops in Iowa, spokesman Nick Kimball said.

He will survey some of the area's hit by the flood and will be at the University of Iowa's boathouse in Terrell Mill Park at 11:30 a.m. That's on the Iowa River near the intersection of Dubuque Street and Park Road.

He'll be joined by Gov. Chet Culver, Rep. Dave Loebsack and Mayor Matt Hayek.

The north wastewater treatment plant is farther down river and had its operations limited during the flood. The city wants to shift all operations to the south plant.

The city has split that work into two projects: the expansion of the south plant at $46 million and the demolition and site work at the north plant at $17 million, said Rick Fosse, the city's public works director.

Though not as costly at an estimated $32 million, the Dubuque Street-Park Road bridge project is probably more visible.

A portion of Dubuque Street, which is a major thoroughfare between Interstate 80 and downtown Iowa City, was closed for more than 30 days during the 2008 flood. The nearby bridge acted like a dam when debris caused water to back up, creating an additional 10 inches of water upstream, according to the city.

The street will be elevated 10 to 12 feet and the bridge will be raised so that the bottom of the new bridge is about a foot above the top of the existing structure, Fosse said.

Helling said both projects are several years from going online.

The city has already received nearly $8.5 million in federal and state money for the wastewater treatment plant and $1.5 million in federal funds for Dubuque Street-Park Road bridge.

Funding also will come locally from the local-option sales tax approved by voters last spring for flood-related projects.