Prep work nearly done on downtown Newton road resurfacing

Three sections of roadway around the courthouse in downtown Newton will be refreshed with a hot mix asphalt resurfacing project.

The city council approved Manatt’s Inc. of Brooklyn to complete the work at a cost of $145,354 during its recent meeting.

The project includes resurfacing the north, east and west sides of the courthouse, the 100 blocks of West Second Street North, North Second Avenue West and First Street North, by milling away a portion of the existing surface and replacing it with a new layer of hot mix asphalt. The sections of the streets being addressed have gone more than 30 years between resurfacing, which last occurred in 1985, and have started to show their age through cracks and deconstruction.

“The condition of these three blocks has deteriorated over the last 33 years with numerous cracks and surface imperfections present,” city administrator Matt Muckler said. “City staff had identified these pavement sections as needing an asphalt milling and resurfacing project during the recently completed budgeting process.”

Community services manager Brian Laube said the contract was set up to have a majority of the work completed at night, minimizing any inconveniences to businesses in the downtown area. Work on the roadways will be scheduled between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. during construction and must be completed by June 30.

“They will mobilize, do the milling for probably two nights and each morning the street will be open for parking. There won’t be any striping on the street and there will be temporary wedges on sidewalk ramps and manholes,” Laube said. “They envision starting on Monday and working four or five nights. We should have it wrapped up by June 23, which gives us about a week to 10 days before the July 4 parade.”

According to Muckler, Manatt’s indicated they should have no problem meeting the schedule set out by the city to complete work before city activities in the area, including the Fourth of July parade and RAGBRAI.

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