Public Works Director highlights recent road work

Work accomplished by the Public Works Department in the past year and plans for future projects was presented to city council by Public Works Director Keith Laube Monday’s meeting.

To begin, Laube stated the goal of the department which is to maintain, improve and replace where necessary, city streets, sidewalks and infrastructure.

“One of the key projects we did this summer was our Maytag Park playground,” Laube said.

The project, which he said was outstanding, had an overflow of volunteers to complete the playground ahead of schedule. It is the largest playground in the park system and was completed in July, giving ample time for children to play before the season ended. The playground project cost $92,000.

Another area the department worked on was sidewalk connectivity and American with Disapbilties Act accessibility projects. At the Newton Dog Park, a paved handicap parking stall was added as well as a sidewalk to the park exercise area. A paved handicap space and an extended sidewalk were added by the soccer fields at Agnes Patterson Park.

“We have a lot of fans that try to watch their children, grandchildren play and they could get almost to the fields and never all the way without additional assistance,” Laube said.

Additional sidewalks were added at East 23rd Street North and South 12th Avenue South where there had been none. ADA accessibility projects included adding 16 curb ramps to intersection corners at a cost of $95,000 for those projects.

Several street projects were completed throughout the year. An overlay on North Second Avenue West gave the round in front of DMACC a much needed upgrade at a cost of $160,000. One of the most visible projects was the remodel of North Fourth Avenue East south of Skiff Medical Center.

“This street was roughly 48 feet wide and we narrowed it down to 41 feet so we could add the streetscaping,” Laube said. “Before you would park your car here, and you’d get out and would be standing in puddles of water, it was sort of a “W” shaped street and with the new alignment that went away.”

A green space was added between the street and the sidewalk along with light poles down the street. Additionally, the city can now plow the street without having to haul snow away. The project cost a total of $450,000.

Future projects for the department include East 31st Street North, which is currently in progress, and North Fourth Avenue West, which as had major frost problems in the past, leaving the road in need of repair, Laube said.

Also, South Second Avenue is a street the department is looking at for reconstruction similar to North Fourth Avenue East. It has no streetscape, is extremely wide and is also “W” shaped. The work would potentially take place from West Fourth Street or East Fourth Street.

The department is looking to upgrade traffic signals with battery backups in case of power outages. Currently, only two signals have backups. Laube said he had just received word from the Iowa Department of Transportation that a grant the city applied for was conditionally approved in the amount of $45,000. The Iowa Department of Transportation will give final approval at its December meeting.

“I just want to say thank you to you and your staff for doing all of these projects with I think the least bit of commotion because I haven’t heard any complaints from our citizens on all of the work that is being done,” Lin Chape, council member said.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com.