I-380 interchange at Tower Terrace Road takes new step forward

CEDAR RAPIDS - A new study, called an interchange justification report, is on the agenda to see if there now is a reason to build a new Interstate 380 interchange at Tower Terrace Road in Hiawatha.

This week, the Cedar Rapids City Council plans to ask the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization, on which the council is represented, to transfer up to $250,000 in state transportation funds for the interchange study from a Cedar Rapids-led project to extend Tower Terrace Road from Robins Road, Hiawatha, to Council Street NE, Cedar Rapids.

According to a staff memorandum to the City Council, the Iowa Department of Transportation now has concluded that the a new interchange study is justified because of work on the Tower Terrace Road extension project and plans to improve North Center Point Road in Hiawatha. However, the DOT has requested a local match of 50 percent of the study's cost, which the transfer of funds from the Tower Terrace Road project is designed to accomplish.

In 2006, the DOT concluded that the interchange study would not be justified until more work was completed on local roads in and around the interchange site.

The interchange justification report must be completed and must recommend the interchange before plans can be made to add to the Federal High Administration's network of highways, according to the staff memorandum to the Cedar Rapids City Council.