MUSCATINE, Iowa – Full depth patching has been completed in the southbound lane of North Houser Street with primary contractor Heuer Construction now concentrating on the northbound lane. The closure of North Houser Street (Houser Hill) from Lucas to Hershey is wrapping up its third week with the street tentatively scheduled to be reopened before the start of school.
Work on the West Hill Sanitary and Storm Sewer Separation Project is making progress with East 8th Street tentatively scheduled to be reopened within the next 7-10 days. Progress is also being made on the bio-retention cell located in the City of Muscatine Lot 7 parking lot across from the Muscatine City Hall.
North Houser Street was identified as the top priority for the 2019-2020 Full Depth Patch Project due to the deteriorating conditions of the pavement caused by the freezing and thawing of water that flowed onto the roadway from the many springs located on the east side of the road.
The movement of water onto the pavement was addressed early in the repair process with tiling now complete along the east side. The improvements passed their first test earlier this week following a one-inch rain Tuesday night.
“The only water we had on the pavement was from the rain itself,” Pat Lynch, assistant city engineer, said. “And that quickly disappeared into the storm drains leaving the pavement dry for the contractor to work on.”
Tiling on the west side of the street will be completed as part of the West Side Trail Project. The West Side Trail will connect the Kent Stein Park trailhead with the trail in Discovery Park. The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) will award the Westside Trail Project at their August 20, 2019, bid opening. Construction is tentatively scheduled to start on September 30, 2019.
With full depth patching work complete on the southbound lane, Heuer Construction started removing old pavement Friday (Aug. 9) from areas that will be replaced next week. A date for reopening this section has not been announced yet with work still weather dependent.
This is the first of five sections that will be repaired under a $919,875 Full Depth Patching contract with Heuer Construction during the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Other sections to be repaired include South Houser Street from Musser to Grandview, Lake Park Boulevard from 2nd Avenue to Park Avenue, University Drive from Highway 61 to Highway 22, and, if time and money permit, Fulliam Avenue from Kindler to Devitt and from Houser to Green Acres,.
WEST HILL PROJECT – KE Flatwork, Inc., and City of Muscatine project managers are anticipating opening the 100 and 200 blocks of East 8th Street to traffic as early as August 16, 2019, depending on the weather.
KE Flatwork, Inc., the prime contractor for Phase IV of the West Hill Sanitary and Storm Sewer Separation Project, has indicated that they would like to wrap up work in these two blocks and reopen them to traffic before continuing with underground work by closing the Pine Street intersection.
Contractor crews have been working on sidewalks and driveways in the 100 and 200 blocks of East 8th Street, and will be backfilling the areas between the street and sidewalks as work continues next week. The connectors with Cedar and Sycamore were poured earlier in the week.
Underground subcontractor KMA Excavating will return next week to continue work from Chestnut towards Linn. Phase 4B of the project ends just before entering the Linn Street intersection.
Barricades on Iowa Avenue expected to be pulled back to 7th Street once the 100 and 200 blocks of East 8th are open to traffic. Work will then begin to remove pavement from the #7 alley towards 7th Street, and prepare the block for repaving.
LOT 7 BIO-RETENTION CELL – Work on the bio-retention cell in the City of Muscatine Parking Lot 7 continues with City crews completing most the prep work for the new bio-retention cell. Crews are now preparing to repave some of the sections torn out and to place permeable pavers. That work should be completed next week, weather permitting. Follow along with the project on the Stormwater Operations page on the city web site.
---
Updates on the work will be available on the City of Muscatine web site (www.muscatineiowa.gov/construction) and on the City of Muscatine social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).