The Streets of Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - Getting from one place to another in a city is a primary concern to its residents.

First Avenue in Cedar Rapids achieved its primary position because it was the most logical place for landing a ferry.

Branching off this main thoroughfare in the mid-1800s were paths that led to scattered residences. Streets at that time were dust that turned to mud with rain.

Tired of the mud on First Avenue's hills, Cedar Rapids officials began a project to grade the street between Fifth and Ninth streets, so water wouldn't collect there. They dug three or four feet deep and 80 feet wide each way from the center of the street and then paved with black dirt or crushed rock. Property owners were assessed up to $100 per lot for paving.

On the other side of the river, Dean's Hill (today's West Highlands neighborhood) was lopped off, and the red gravel that resulted was used as a porous paving.

The city laid tiling for gutters on each side - $250 for 3,000 feet - to eliminate standing water, but mud continued to plague travelers. It was so bad in the spring of 1886 that horses flung mud on ladies along the walkways.

The City Council in 1887 decided to pass a paving law that allowed for cedar block paving and stone curbs. Some property owners wanted brick instead, but the council doubted its reliability, saying brick was “too experimental … while cedar block is in general use all over the country.”

In 1888, the first paving began with cedar blocks placed on two-inch planks on a one-inch cushion on graded streets, at a cost of about $1.02 to $1.07½ per square yard, grading and curbing extra.

An approving Gazette editorial said: “If a city like this cannot afford more than $10,000 a year for improvements of the city highways, it had better sell out.”

One of those improvements that The Gazette had in mind was grading First Avenue in front of Coe College. The project involved removing 9,000 yards of dirt to dump in the slough (Cedar Lake) and installing cedar block paving and stone curbing, at a cost of $8,247.35.

By summer 1892, cedar blocks were laid all the way to 16th Street, but The Gazette observed that this method of paving was not working out well.

“A single trip over 10 or 11 blocks of the block paving on First Avenue will convince anyone who has any feeling whatever or one grain of sense that there is need of immediate action in laying new paving,” it said. “There is no question but brick paving is the only kind to use.”

This time property owners preferred asphalt over brick because of its durability and comparative lack of noise and petitioned city fathers to opt for that instead. The council said that even though “asphalt made a beautiful pavement … it must be admitted that it is largely an experiment.”

Council members reasoned that if there was a flaw in using asphalt it might not show up until it was paid for and then it would be too late.

In September 1893, workmen began tearing up the cedar block. New paving consisted of one layer of vitrified brick laid on edge over a six-inch foundation of crushed rock (macadam) covered with two inches of sand. This method resulted in an unstable street when the subgrade settled, and potholes formed on the surface.

City Engineer George Merridith in his annual report for 1900 stressed the need for improved methods of installing brick streets, starting with a concrete base instead of substandard brick and macadam. He also urged paving of cross streets with asphalt. Asphalt paving cost $1.56 per square yard on six-inch concrete foundation.

By 1931, city officials determined that they needed a plan for a growing city. They had a better-than-average foundation for street planning in that the original plats provided for streets not less than 80 feet wide and twice that for main thoroughfares. Subsequent development was haphazard, however.

In “A City Plan for Cedar Rapids,” published in 1931 by Cedar Rapids' City Plan Commission, it was observed: “Cities have always grown according to some plan, but in the past that plan has almost always been one of immediate expediency or a blind following of precedent. … We are awakening to the fact that enormous sums of money have been wasted in so-called ‘improvements,' which were constructed spasmodically rather than according to a comprehensive preconceived plan for general expansion. The result has been that, after a short time, the city has either suffered serious inconvenience or has been forced to make additional expenditures to correct mistakes that could have been prevented if the city had been properly planned in advance.”

By 1950, Cedar Rapids still was trying to figure out how to improve its street system. A St. Louis consulting firm was hired to prepare a report that covered points such as past population growth, topography, present land use, building permit trends, traffic flow, future population and future growth. Generally approved by the Plan Commission, it was publicly presented in 1951 for residents' input.

The report stated: “The (major street) system is designed particularly to facilitate better cross-town movement and to enable traffic to bypass the central business and industrial areas in moving between the eastern and western portions of the urban area. A major objective has been to keep the street improvements within the financial limitations of the community and of other interested agencies, such as the state highway department and the public roads administration.”

In both the 1931 and 1951 reports, city planners concluded that if a proper plan had been established by 1900, the city could have avoided some problems.