Cedar Rapids to get second gateway sign on Interstate 380

CEDAR RAPIDS - Northbound motorists on Interstate 380 have been alerted since 2013 that they have entered the city by a gateway sign on the east side of the highway south of Highway 30.

Southbound motorists now will be treated to a similar gateway sign, this one on the west of the highway just north of Collins Road NE/Highway 100.

The estimated cost of the new southbound sign near the city's north boundary is $255,000, according to the city's projections. Bids are slated to be opened on Jan. 28.

The cost estimate is $125,000 higher than the actual cost of the northbound sign on the south side of the city because the new sign for southbound motorists must be placed 'significantly further away” from the highway and so must be larger to have the same visual effect, Doug Wilson, the city's capital improvement project manager, said on Monday.

The new sign will be identical to the one in place except in size.

The existing sign has a vertical panel of a downtown skyline with Cedar Rapids' name atop an image of one of the downtown bridges. Stone work and native plantings comprise the sign's base.

To create the gateway sign, the city appointed a Gateways Task Force to come up with a design concept with help from Kirkwood Community College horticulture students. SAA Design Group of Madison, Wis., then created the final design.

The 2013 sign for northbound motorists replaced a neglected predecessor, which was broken in pieces for a number of years with parts of it leaning against a fence.

Once in place, though, the new sign's base of stone and landscaping was obscured by a chain-link fence in front of it that is a safety feature of the Interstate.

Subsequently, the city worked with the Iowa Department of Transportation to lower the fence line in front of the sign to make the entire sign easier to see.

Cathy Cutler, a planner in the DOT's Cedar Rapids district office, said Monday that the DOT cautioned the city about the DOT's fence as the city began planning where to place the new sign for southbound motorists.

Wilson said the city will build up the site for the new sign to make sure that it is not obscured by DOT fencing.

Work is slated to start this spring on the new sign and is scheduled to be completed within 160 calendar days, he said.