1st Avenue/Williams Boulevard (IA 922/US Business 151)

CLIENT: CITY OF CEDAR RAPIDS

Project Description: Anderson Bogert was retained by the City of Cedar Rapids to prepare construction plans for the widening of 1st Avenue/Williams Boulevard (IA 922/US Business 151) from 13th Street to 8th Avenue. The project included widening the existing four-lane roadway to five lanes with dedicated left turn bays at the major intersections and a two-way left turn lane between the major intersections. The existing traffic signals at 1st Avenue intersections with 15th Street and with 18th Street were replaced and upgraded. A fiber optic cable interconnect between the two intersections was spliced into the existing copper interconnect that runs down 1st Avenue/Williams Boulevard.

A citizen’s advisory group was formed following several public information meetings. Anderson Bogert worked with this advisory group and any concerned citizens to address issues and to develop special design standards to fit the context of this project. There were 63 right of-way acquisitions on this project, and only two properties required condemnation. The roadway alignment was centered between the faces of the houses to be fair to all property owners. A project website was developed and project newsletters were distributed to the citizens along the corridor. A final public meeting was held to present the final design to all property owners.

The project falls under Iowa DOT jurisdiction and was partially funded through U STEP and 3R funding sources. The signal improvements required Iowa DOT review and approval through New Traffic Control Device permitting process.