Work on Bus. 61 one-ways could start this year

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - City officials got a fresh look and timeline Tuesday for reconstruction of what are called the city's "one-way pairs" on Bus. 61 in Fort Madison.

At Tuesday night's regular City Council meeting held via teleconference, Tim Cutsforth, a project manager for HR Green of Cedar Rapids, updated the council on how 2016 plans for the work have changed.

Cutsforth said his firm was hoping to put the project out for bid in May, but with the virus and changing face of state and federal stimulus packages, the city might see an advantage to waiting until the August bid letting period to put the work out.

The project is part of the Avenue H and Avenue L reconstruction that is being paid for with proceeds from a $13.9 million payment given to the city by the state after the bypass was completed. That fund, and the interest generated by it, are earmarked for the reconstruction project.

Phase 1 is currently underway with the reconstruction of the highway from 2nd Street to 6th Street.

Cutsforth said additional modifications to the plan also make a later bidding possibly a better option for the city.

"We expanded the project by adding some water main. The original plan original plan wasn't to replace it, but city decided it was the right time to do that so we added that in," he said.

"Then the virus hit and slowed our production a little bit. I think it would be very optimistic to bid this is in May and if we did, as we found out earlier, the bids would be high."

Cutsforth then recommended pushing the bid back to August where the city may be able to take advantage of some additional stimulus that may come out as part of the nation's recovery from the coronavirus.

This image shows the turn northbound at 18th Street off of Avenue L with projected three-lane traffic. Courtesy image from HR Green Inc.

He said his company is hearing rumors that the next stimulus could focus on city and state governments and could including transportation projects and city-type work.

"What we're hearing is that bill could come out at the end of this month or beginning of next month. We don't know what that will look like, but it could be similar to (President Barack) Obama's plan back in 2008 looking for shovel-ready projects," he said.

"Provided that the easements could be acquired fairly quickly and depending on the dates and contingencies in that bill, it's something we should look at to see if we don't want to utilize that for this project."

The plans include changing all the one-ways to two-way, three-lane traffic with a shared turning lane around the "square" that is defined by Avenues H and L from 18th Street to 20th Street. Right now 18th Street runs one-way north and 20th Street runs one-way south, carrying all Bus. 61 traffic through Fort Madison.

Originally the plans created in 2016 called for reducing the offset at the intersection of 20th and Avenue L for north and southbound traffic. However, Cutsforth indicated that acquiring property on the northeast corner was proving difficult so new plans don't reduce the offset as much.

The plan also calls for closing off 18th Street from Avenue L south to the alley. That intersection will also include a slight bend to the north on Avenue L on the east side of the intersection to allow it to "T" with the main roadway.

Original plans also included trees on both sides of the roadways, but current plans only have trees on the inside of the square, where an 8-foot recreation path is being planned as part of the city's recreational trails.

He said if the construction in those rights of way gets too tight, the trees can be omitted from the project.

Cutsforth said if bids are secured in August, preliminary work could begin on the project by Thanksgiving.

Additional images provided below show other facets of the project.

construction, fort madison, HR Green, Hwy 61, Hwy. 2, iowa, one-ways, Pen City Current

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