Highway 3 west widening, city signs on 2010 project list

Adding a lane to Highway 3 west of Le Mars will likely be one of the City of Le Mars' top projects in the works in the new year.

Le Mars City Administrator Scott Langel sketched out the 2010 priority projects with the Daily Sentinel this week, noting the finalized list is yet to come.

The Le Mars City Council hired McClure Engineering in October to work with about 12 city departments to develop an overall city priority project list, Langel explained.

In December, the Fort Dodge engineering firm, started gathering proposals for capital projects or purchases from each of the departments, he said.

"They're coming up with a standardized, computerized method to take it from the infant stage of 'Hey, I've got a need or request,' to 'Are we going to fund it,'" Langel said.

Some of the projects likely to top that list include widening Highway 3 west of Le Mars, adding city signs and fixing up Highway 75 north.

The widening of Highway 3 west from Le Mars to the Highway 75 Bypass interchange has been on the city's agenda for some time.

"You have a two-lane facility that, because it's a connection to the bypass, really needs to be at minimum a three-lane road," Langel said. "The city's thinking is to keep a three-lane facility all the way through town."

The city requested state dollars for the about $500,000 project from the Siouxland Regional Transportation Planning Association and received more than $300,000 in state Surface Transportation Program (STP) dollars. The Iowa Department of Transportation also agreed to contribute to the work.

In a related project, the City of Le Mars is planning to add a paved walkway along Highway 3 From 16th Avenue West over the Floyd River and into the city.

"We need to get the pedestrians from the residential area on the west side of the river to the east side of the river and into town without having to walk on a highway where the posted speed is 55 mph," Langel said. "To do it safely it's going to take either adding a component to the existing bridge -- a pedestrian walkway, or a stand alone bridge."

Planners are in the process of deciding which of the two options would make the most sense.

The Siouxland Regional Transportation Planning Association pledged $200,000 in state STP dollars for this estimated $250,000 project, Langel said.

Work on those two projects is tentatively slated for 2010-2012, he said.

The Highway 75 north rehabilitation work is slated for the summer of 2010 and would cost approximately $400,000.

Approximately $200,000 in state STP dollars is to be allocated for the project.

Other items on the list of possible upcoming projects include:

* Installing signs for Le Mars' 9-mile recreation trail

* Creating six recreation trail plazas

* Purchasing four entrance signs for Le Mars

* Designing and completing Le Mars Police station renovations

* Building two buildings for the Public Works Department, one to hold materials like salt, wood chips, sand and crushings and the other to add parking space for the equipment

* Demolishing the Westmar University physical plant building

* Re-roofing the Le Mars Public Library, the Le Mars Senior Center, the Public Works Department and the Municipal Park shelter house

* Working on a Southdale storm sewer

* Constructing a storage facility for snow equipment at the airport

* Plymouth Street and Sixth Avenue intersection repairs

While state and national budgets are tight, Langel is optimistic funds will be available to complete city projects.

"According to the preliminary numbers, the assessed values are up 2 percent, so even in this economic time, the city of Le Mars in all sectors -- residential, commercial, industrial -- have really kept pace and have not declined," Langel said.

That means the city's general fund will have more dollars in it, he said.

"Secondly, it's noteworthy that Le Mars Urban Renewal Area, which generates our TIF (Tax Increment Financing) revenue, is up."

In addition, he said, the city has been reasonably successful in pulling in state and federal grant and loan dollars in the past.

"You won't get it unless you ask for it, and believe me, we're going to be asking," Langel said. "I think that citizens of Le Mars can almost count on that we're pretty healthy in Le Mars and we can continue to set the stage for the future."