MUSCATINE, Iowa – The nearly completed section of Mississippi Drive from Chestnut to Broadway will be closed for two weeks starting Monday as KE Flatwork, Muscatine Power & Water (MPW) and the City of Muscatine complete the reconstruction of that section of the street. The closure will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, April 16, and continue through 5 p.m. on Friday, April 27. The end date is dependent on the weather, however.
The City met with business owners along Mississippi Drive at the end of March to discuss the full closure of Mississippi Drive. The City worked with KE Flatwork and MPW to minimize the duration of the closure and to minimize the inconvenience to the business owners and their customers.
The intersections at Iowa Avenue and Chestnut Street along with the one block of Mississippi Drive from Iowa to Chestnut will remain open to traffic.
Mississippi Drive was reopened on Dec. 8 from Broadway to Iowa but some work was not completed due to the winter season and weather conditions. That work will be completed during this two-week closure. Access to the affected businesses east of Linn Street will again be from Pine Street, through the #1 alley to the Linn Street parking area.
Landscaping, seeding, and additional brickwork will be completed along with installing intersection markers and monuments in this section of Mississippi Drive. The City of Muscatine Department of Public Works will complete installation of street signs, and MPW will also complete work on the street lights and cabling during this time period.
City engineer Jim Edgmond told the business owners that the closure was for the safety of the workers and not due to any reconfiguring of Mississippi Drive.
“We are not finished with this project and will continue to observe and monitor as we wrap up construction,” Edgmond said. “If there are items that need to be tweaked down the road, then we will make a list, discuss and prioritize these items, and see if or when these items can be resolved.”
Following the final clean-up and reopening of Mississippi Drive, MPW will be closing Linn Street from Mississippi Drive to the #1 alley for underground electrical work that will connect the underground cabling along Mississippi Drive with the substation.