Major Road Construction Projects Under Way In Glenwood


Construction work on Redbud Avenue and Locust Street (below) is projected to be completed around July 1.

A semi-trailer truck manuevers around a utility construction area on Elm Street Monday morning. Elm Street is part of the designated detour route during the Locust Street construction project.

Redbud Avenue near Glenwood Community High School is getting a major overhaul. The road will be the way out of town for RAGBRAI riders on July 21.

Getting around Glenwood for the next six weeks is going to be a little challenging for motorists.

Two major road projects – one on Redbud Avenue heading in and out of town near Glenwood Community High School and one on North Locust Street – will force motorists to take alternate routes and detours to reach their destinations.

On Monday, Bluffs Paving and Utility (city contractor), began pavement removal and replacement on Redbud Avenue near Marion Avenue and Oak Street. Traffic will be detoured around the area for the duration of the project with access provided to residents living on Oak Street.

Work has also commenced on the Locust Street project where Western Engineering will be doing pavement reconstruction between  Sharp Street and Hazel Street. The Locust Street project is a joint effort between the City of Glenwood and Iowa Department of Transportation.

“Redbud is supposed to be six weeks and I think Locust is a very similar timeline,” Glenwood City Administrator Amber Farnan said Monday. “They’re hoping (to have projects completed) by the first of July. They’ve assured us they’ll be done by RAGBRAI.”

The Locust Street project has already caused some confusion and congestion. The street is open to “local traffic” while pass-through traffic is being detoured to the western fringe of the city. The contractor’s initial plan to route traffic down Hazel Street was changed.

“We’re trying to keep it local traffic only on Locust Street at 20 mph. Anything that’s trying to get through town, we’re going to get them on 225th, down to Elm and over to Sharp,” Farnan said.

The detour route does take the pass-through traffic into an area of town already inundated with construction vehicles (going in and out of Arbor Hills subdivision construction site) and utility vehicles (along Western Iowa Network fiber installation route).

Farnan said the detour route will likely be changed when construction work on Locust shifts from the west side of the road to the east side.

“Right now they’re doing the west side. When they switch over to the east side, they’ll have to have a different detour, I think.  We haven’t gotten that far, yet,” she said. “On the east side of town, it’s harder to get to Locust Street. You have Fourth (Street) and then you have Sixth (Street). Anywhere north of that, you don’t have any access to Locust.”

Farnan said the Redbud Avenue project will be a total reconstruction of the road to the city limits. Mills County is also doing shoulder work after the road turns into Hershey Ave., she said.

The Locust Street project involves cutting out some areas of the road and pouring new concrete. After the concrete has cured, an asphalt overlay will be placed over the entire road.

Farnan and other city officials urge motorists to be patient and careful when driving in and around the construction zones.

 

The Opinion-Tribune

116 S Walnut St Glenwood, IA 51534-1665
P.O. Box 377, Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-527-3191
Phone: 712-623-2566
Fax: 712-527-3193

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