City seeks money to connect Ellis to Sixth Street SW and to build two roundabouts

The city of Cedar Rapids is seeking funding from a special state highway grant program for two roundabouts and a project to extend Ellis Boulevard NW a few blocks and over railroad tracks to connect to Sixth Street SW.

On Thursday, the local regional planning group, the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization, agreed to send a letter of support for Cedar Rapids' attempt to secure funds from the Iowa Clean Air Attainment Program for the road projects.

The idea of extending Ellis Boulevard NW to Sixth Street SW was endorsed by the city's four-month-long Neighborhood Planning Process earlier this year and is seen as a way to improve accessibility to and from the city's northwest quadrant and the Ellis Park area.

Bill Bogert, a member of the metropolitan planning organization, noted on Thursday that the plan is to maintain Ellis Boulevard's residential feel once it connects to the busier, more-commercial Sixth Street SW.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $4.4 million.

The proposals for traffic roundabouts call for one at Cottage Grove Avenue SE and Forest Drive SE near Washington High School and the other for Kirkwood Boulevard SW and 76th Avenue SW, Adam Lindenlaub, the city's long-range planning coordinator, noted.

The estimated cost of the first project is $642,000, the second, $3 million.

Lu Barron, Linn County supervisor and a planning organization representative, wondered if the city had taken any public input to date on the Cottage Grove Avenue SE roundabout proposal. Lindenlaub said he would check.

The city also is seeking Clean Air funding for a fourth project which would upgrade traffic signalization on A Avenue NE between Seventh and 10th streets NE. The estimated cost, $93,570.