MUSCATINE, Iowa – The Mississippi Drive Corridor Reconstruction Project is within two weeks of being substantially complete with the final section (Oak Street to Mad Creek) tentatively scheduled to be reopened to traffic by the end of the day on Friday, Nov. 30. Of course that date is dependent on the weather.
Most of the roadway has been completed but there is still plenty to do on 2nd Street in the final two weeks before the tentative reopening date. That includes finishing landscaping and brickwork in the medians, completing the installation of the street lights, paint striping of the street, and general cleanup.
City project managers anticipate that the Mississippi Drive Corridor Reconstruction Project (MDRCP) will be substantially complete by November 30 with the street reopened to traffic. However, completion of punch list items may take several more weeks and there may be temporary lane closures needed.
Part of the MDCRP was moving the Muscatine Power & Water (MPW) transmission lines along Mississippi Drive underground and removing the poles. The lower transmission lines from Linn to Mulberry are expected to be taken down in December but the upper high voltage lines will not be taken down until after the roundabout at 2nd and Mulberry is completed. Complete removal of the transmission lines and poles is expected to be completed in 2019 or 2020.
2nd & MULBERRY ROUNDABOUT
Design of the roundabout is nearly complete with City officials anticipating awarding the project this winter with a Spring 2019 construction timeline. A presentation on the project will be scheduled after the design has been completed.
WEST HILL SEWER SEPARATION PROJECT
Phase 4A of the West Hill Sewer Separation Project is in the final stages of their 2018 construction schedule. Underground work is complete for this phase and the contractor is now preparing the final sections for repaving.
If the weather holds, Phase 4A will be substantially complete by Friday, Nov. 30, with a final completion date of Friday, Dec. 21.
KMA Excavating has completed preparation of Locust Street for paving with KE Flatworks set to trim, set forms, and pave the street in the next five days. This is the final section of street repaving to be completed with backfilling and seeding yet to be accomplished. Seventh Street is currently open from Cedar to Linn.
HOUSER STREET PARKING EXPANSION
The Houser Street parking expansion project is moving along with the parking lot paved, the practice fields seeded, and the first portion of the West Side Trail (the portion that runs along Houser in front of the expansion project) expected to be asphalted this week. The parking lot has been paved but backfilling and landscaping is yet to be accomplished. The bases for the light poles were placed this week with more activity scheduled in the days before the Thanksgiving holiday.
FULL DEPTH PATCHING PROJECT
The Full Depth Patch project is also moving ahead with the contractor completing work on Division Street, Stewart Road, and Fulliam Street. Houser and Logan Streets are 80 percent complete and are expected to be completed before the winter shutdown. The contract with All-American Concrete expires on May 1 with the final two street sections moved to Spring 2019 according to city project managers.
The pavement on Park Avenue West and 2nd Avenue has been saw cut but city officials pushed further work on these two sections into the spring construction season. Pat Lynch, assistant city engineer, said that while the weather is expected to hold for a few more weeks (allowing completion of Houser and Logan), it was too late in the 2018 construction season to open up the sections of Park Avenue West and 2nd Avenue, prep the subbase, and complete the repaving before the weather shuts down construction operations.
UPCOMING IN 2019
The final two sections of the Full Depth Patch project will become part of another busy construction season in 2019. Among the projects that will begin in 2019 are the two-year Grandview Avenue Revitalization Project, the roundabout at 2nd Street and Mulberry Avenue, the roundabout at Houser and Fulliam, Phase 4B of the West Hill Sewer Separation Project (8th Street from Cedar to Linn), the West Side Trail, and much more.