MUSCATINE, Iowa – The public is invited to a meeting on Thursday, October 3, to hear a discussion on the tentative plans for the 2nd Street Streetscape Project and to offer public comment on the upcoming work. The meeting will be held from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Thursday in the City Council Chambers located on the second flood of Muscatine City Hall, 215 Sycamore St., Muscatine, Iowa.
Anyone interested is invited to attend this public session to ask questions or to offer ideas on what might be included in the finalized plans. Business owners in the Downtown Business District are encouraged to attend.
The overall project will reconstruct the 2nd Street intersections at Iowa, Sycamore, and Cedar Streets while focusing on sidewalk design, and keeping street repairs to a minimum. There will also be some adjustments to on-street parking. The two-year project will be completed in stages that will be discussed during Thursday’s public meeting.
The 2nd street Streetscape Project builds on the success of other infrastructure projects undertaken by the City of Muscatine that was developed, in part, to improve the infrastructure and amenities of the Downtown Muscatine business district.
The 2nd Street project will utilize the City of Muscatine Complete Street policy along with concepts from the EPA Greening America’s Communities program, and placemaking to create public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and well-being while also providing local businesses and their customers with a better Downtown Muscatine experience.
The effort began with improvements to Riverside Park and the development of the Riverside Park Master Plan Update, continued with the Mississippi Drive Corridor Revitalization project, and is now focused on enhancing 2nd Street.
Bolton & Menk of Des Moines, Iowa, is the design consultant for the 2nd Street project that will replace sidewalks and install other amenities along the 2nd Street corridor from Pine Street to Mulberry Avenue. The design firm is expected to finish the plans by the end of October with a public hearing before the Muscatine City Council tentatively scheduled for November 21. A December bid letting is anticipated with construction tentatively scheduled to start in Spring 2020.