DOT: Edgewood to return to normal by winter

CEDAR RAPIDS - From a few thousand feet up, you can practically see the future, at least the future of Highway 100.

The lanes of its extension are etched into the earth. The bridge over the Cedar River is taking shape. And future access ramps for Edgewood and Covington Roads are getting staked out.

'I've done several large projects, but this is the biggest one I've done in Iowa,” said Hugh Holak, resident construction manager based in the Iowa Department of Transportation's Manchester office.

The 7.5-mile connection from Edgewood Road to Highway 30, estimated $200 million, will change how traffic moves on the northwest side of the city by the time it is finished in 2020.

While an aerial view puts the scope of the project in perspective, progress is noticeable at ground level, too. In some places more so than others.

Covington Road is one of the focus areas. The road was closed for much of this year to install the bridge - one of five bridges for this phase of the project - spanning the eventual Highway 100.

Covington reopened Wednesday, months sooner than the mid-November estimate. The project included a non-standard item - 'decorative rustication on the bridge” - but it didn't take as long as expected, Holak said.

'It's a lot easier to tell people we opened three months early rather than three months late,” said Holak, who is responsible for bridges, structures and retaining walls as part of the project.

Peterson Contractors Inc. had the $1.9 million contract to install a box culvert bridge.

The banks for eventual east side on-off ramps were being formed, and a dump truck was loading gravel on the west side of the bridge. Work west of Covington is part of later phases of the project, and those contracts will start being awarded next year.

Near the Cedar River, piers and abutments are in place, and girders for the bridge to carry Highway 100 over the river were being installed this week. The hope is to lay the deck on the eastbound span yet this year, Holak said.

This is the biggest, most costly single undertaking of the project, at least so far. Peterson also has the $22.7 million bridge contract.

Much of the effort occurs in the floodplan, on sandbars, so work is delayed any time it rains, Holak explained.

Motorists are likely most familiar with work at Ushers Ferry and Edgewood roads, where population and traffic are most dense.

The good news is these two hurdles are nearly in the rearview mirror.

Work at Ushers Ferry Road is mostly complete, including the installation of a bridge for Highway 100, which required road closures this summer. Retaining walls are still being finished, Holak added.

Crews were able to get Ushers Ferry reopened in August before the school year. That eases congestion on Edgewood Road by giving workers at Transamerica and Toyota Financial Services as well as students at Xavier High School a different access point.

Perhaps the most noticeable progress - and also the biggest headache remaining - is the interchange of Edgewood Road and the existing Highway 100.

With about 42,000 vehicles passing through a day, this area has experienced the most traffic delays. C.J. Moyna & Sons Inc. has contracts worth about $18 million for work at Edgewood.

After the completion of a new bridge, traffic has been moved off a detour and back onto Edgewood Road. Still, cones and signs force drivers to stay alert in navigating the road.

Traffic remains consolidated to one lane in each direction, instead of two lanes each way.

'You need to know to follow the signs and the lines,” said Pat Hines, co-owner of Peck's Flower and Garden Shop, at the junction of Edgewood and Blairs Ferry. 'If you enter knowing your turn may have changed since the last time you were there, it is not too bad to maneuver.”

Hines said the key is to be patient.

John Vu, Holak's counterpart with the Iowa DOT office is Cedar Rapids, oversees paving and grading work for Highway 100. He noted that the goal is to restore traffic on Edgewood to normal by the end of construction season, likely around mid-November. The access ramps to Edgewood is detoured on the north side of existing Highway 100. That will be switched to the south side on or about Sept. 14 to rebuild the north access ramp, Vu said.

Construction crews have been working late and weekends to finish, he said. The goal is to complete the east ramps by winter, and work on the west side ramps next year.

'The worst has passed us,” Vu said. 'It should be downhill from here. We are trying to get the interchange at Edgewood and 100 done, so at least traffic is back to normal and we can be ready for the next stage, which we would have open next year.”

Holak said some parts of the project must occur in sequence. For example, the access ramps need to be complete before paving can begin, while others are more flexible.

About four miles of the Highway 100 extension have been graded, taking it from Edgewood to Covington Road. Holak said the paving contract for that section will be awarded to the low bidder in December or January.

By the end of 2016, motorists should be able to zip down Highway 100 from Edgewood to Covington, he said.