MUSCATINE, Iowa – Sycamore Street will be reopened to through traffic beginning this weekend according to City of Muscatine project managers. KE Flatwork,Inc., has completed work in the Sycamore and East 8th Street intersection and will be moving the barricades.
Those barricades will be moved to the 8th Street intersection as East 8th Street will remain closed to traffic as work continues in those two blocks. KE Flatworks will also be moving the barricades on Iowa Avenue east from the #7 Alley to the 7th Street intersection as work will soon begin to remove pavement and prepare the 700 block of Iowa for paving. That work is tentatively scheduled to begin on August 26.
Underground work by subcontractor KMA Excavating from Chestnut to Linn continues with work on the new sanitary sewer installation. The Pine Street intersection is now fully closed due to the underground work and the Fuller Street intersection is open only to local traffic at this time. Phase 4B stops just short of the Linn Street intersection.
A detour for parishioners attending St. Mathias has been established by the City with signage in place along the detour route.
The Phase 4B contract calls for the work to be substantially complete by October 4 and fully completed by November 22. Weather and other related issues may push back the substantially complete date, however.
FULL DEPTH PATCHING PROJECT - Full depth patching has been completed in the southbound lane of North Houser Street with Heuer Construction now completing patching work in the northbound lane. The closure of North Houser Street (Houser Hill) from Lucas to Hershey is wrapping up its fourth week with the street tentatively scheduled to be reopened before the start of school.
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 in the repair process with tiling added along the east side. Tiling on the west side will be completed as part of the West Side Trail Project.
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,.
LOT 7 BIO-RETENTION CELL – Work on the bio-retention cell in City of Muscatine Parking Lot 7 continues with City crews completing most the prep work for the bio-retention cell. Crews are now repaving some of the sections removed, will be placing permeable pavers, and stripping the parking areas. City officials tentatively believe that leased parking will resume before the end of August. Follow along with the project on the Stormwater Operations page on the city web site.
2ND & MULBERRY ROUNDABOUT – The Muscatine City Council approved awarding the $2.1 million contract for construction of the 2nd Street and Mulberry Roundabout to Heuer Construction at the August 15 meeting. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin on September 15 but may change based on the timetable developed during the pre-construction meeting in early September. Project managers for the City of Muscatine will be holding meetings with all business owners along the 2nd Street corridor from Oak to Pine before and during the construction process.
Underground work in the intersection will be completed first with City project managers hoping to be able to have the intersection repaved before the winter construction shut down. The construction work will be completed in stages to keep any disruption to business at a minimum.
In addition to awarding the construction contract, the Council also approved the contract for the demolition of one of the two buildings that will be removed to make room for the roundabout. Valley Construction was awarded the $26,500 contract to demolish and remove the building at 515 East 2nd Street. The City is now in the process of preparing to request bids for the demolition and removal of the second building
ALLEY ASPHALT OVERLAY PROJECT – The 2019-2020 Alley Asphalt Overlay Project has been delayed with the Muscatine City Council approving the request to rescind the awarding of the contract and to reject all previous bids. City officials are determining whether to rebid the project this year or wait until the 2020-2021 fiscal year. A total of 11 alleys were listed in the project for 2019-2020 with $100,000 budgeted for the work. Not all of the alleys would be completed this fiscal year, however.
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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).