Four options presented for Mount Vernon-Lisbon bypass

The most recent proposals for a Highway 30 bypass of Mount Vernon and Lisbon were literally placed on the table Thursday, with no guarantees any will ever be built.

Four alternatives were presented at a public review meeting at Mount Vernon High School, narrowing the field from five that were presented nine months ago.

The major changes from the last review meeting nine months ago included relocating the Lisbon interchange on Sutliffe Road about 800 feet further south to avoid the site of a former city dump, and dropping two alternatives that reconnected the bypass to existing Highway 30 further east on the Lisbon side of the project, Iowa Department of Transportation District Engineer Jim Schnoebelen said.

The bypass, expected to cost $80 million, is not yet in the Iowa Department of Transportation's five-year plan, and many local residents simply want to see the project get going due to congestion at the existing interchange of Highway  1 and Highway 30.

DOT Transportation Planner Cathy Cutler said the project will include two interchanges – one in Mount Vernon and one in Lisbon. All options call for Highway 1 to be the interchange point on the Mount Vernon side of the bypass because it has widespread public acceptance. The location of the Lisbon bypass has been a more difficult issue to settle.

The alternatives presented Thursday called for Lisbon interchanges either at Sutliffe Road or at the east edge of the city.

Dan Kohl, who farms and is developing a subdivision southeast of Lisbon, said the eastern interchange would be in Cedar County, and would provide more opportunities for business development. He said Cedar County officials should be engaged in the process more.

“Visionary people have to look down the road ten years,” Kohl said. He said the Sutliffe Road option would greatly incre ase the difficulty of moving equipment and grain from his Rolling  K Hills Farm.

Cutler said two of the options provide access across the bypass for all local roads. The remaining two lack cross-bypass access for Adams Avenue on the east side of Lisbon. From Adams Avenue, motorists could still cross the bypass by going through the east interchange.

The DOT has placed the proposed route in a Corridor Preservation Zone, which allows the DOT to review changes to zoning, building permits and future subdivisions. If a developer or business proposes changes in land use that could affect the project, the DOT may elect to buy the land if the project based on their potential impact on the project.