ASBURY, Iowa -- On most mornings, around 7 a.m., Asbury City Councilman-Elect Curt Kiessling walks outside and watches the stream of cars zooming past his Asbury Road home.
"(The road) is definitely our main thoroughfare," Kiessling said.
A public informational meeting on the Asbury East/West Corridor Connectivity Study was held Monday at The Meadows Golf Club.
The goal of the study is to improve the transportation capacity for all modes of traffic in the Asbury Road corridor, which has become increasingly congested over the past decade.
HDR Engineering, an architectural consulting firm based in Omaha, Neb., conducted the study on behalf of the cities of Dubuque and Asbury.
The public input meeting in Asbury was intended to showcase the final stages of the project. Coordination between HDR and both cities started a year ago.
"There's been a lot of time and effort put into this project," said Will Sharp, vice president of HDR. "The corridor carries a lot of traffic. What can we do to enhance operations of bicyclists
Dubuque meeting |
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| The Dubuque East-West Corridor Connectivity Study public meeting will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Historic Federal Building, 350 W. Sixth St. |
"This corridor has a lot of shared use."
Under the proposal, Asbury Road would transform into a three-lane street with left-turn lanes in the middle. On-street bike lanes in each direction also would be added.
HDR also is proposing access-control standards in the city, providing minimum spacing between driveways.
The project on Asbury Road, west of the Northwest Arterial, is estimated to cost around $28 million, according to a draft report of the study.
"Asbury Road was designed as a farm-to-market road," Sharp said. "It wasn't designed as a urban residential street."
The study has an eye on the next 20 years. HDR projects average daily traffic on Asbury Road east of Radford Road will increase from 11,700 vehicles to 16,600 vehicles.
"We want to make sure we have a long-range plan," said Beth Bonz, Asbury city administrator. "We have some significant traffic issues on Asbury and Pennsylvania (Avenue)."
Kiessling is pleased with the final stages of the project, but hopes the Asbury City Council also will consider other alternatives to relieve traffic congestion.
"This looks great, but I would also like to see another thoroughfare," Kiessling said.
