Southwest Arterial – Project Status Summary

The Southwest Arterial will be a 6.1-mile, four-lane, divided freeway with priority-one access control and will provide an alternative route for traffic through southwestern Dubuque. It will connect the Dubuque Technology Park on U.S. Hwy 61/151 with the new Dubuque Industrial Center West and the existing Dubuque Industrial Center near U.S. Hwy 20.

The Dubuque City Council, the Dubuque County Board of Supervisors, Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce, Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, and Dubuque Metropolitan Planning Organization (DMATS) have identified the completion of the Southwest Arterial Project as the #1 surface transportation priority in the Dubuque area.

Public Informational Meeting
The City of Dubuque hosted a public informational meeting on the Southwest Arterial project on Monday, Nov. 29, at the Dubuque County Firefighters Association Emergency Responder Training Center at 14928 Public Safety Way off Seippel Road. City staff and project consultants provided an update on the Southwest Arterial project, provided an update on the results and recommendations of the preliminary design Value Engineering evaluation, reviewed proposed new design modifications, reviewed the project schedule, and responded to feedback and questions from the public. Approximately 175 people attended the public informational meeting. To view online the public informational meeting presentation along with the Citizen Comment Form, select the following links:
 

      Public Informational Meeting Presentation 

      Citizen Comment Form


Corridor Alignment Map 

  

Economic Development
Dubuque is the regional economic center for the Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin tri-state area. With local international companies such as the John Deere Dubuque Works, Nordstrom Distribution Center, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, A.Y. McDonald Manufacturing, Flexsteel Industries, Kendall/Hunt Publishing, and the Hormel Food Corporation, it is critical to construct the Southwest Arterial as an alternate, direct route for commercial traffic through southwestern Dubuque. The Southwest Arterial project will significantly improve the efficiency and safety of the regional highway transportation network that is vital for the statewide, national and global distribution of local commerce and the continued growth and sustainability of the strong regional economy.

Mobility Benefits
The Southwest Arterial project will connect two growing sections of the community together and will support future anticipated expansion growth to the southwest of the City toward the Dubuque Regional Airport. The Southwest Arterial will also provide an efficient bypass around the City thereby reducing travel times and minimizing delay by reducing traffic volumes and congestion on the local street system

Environmental Benefits
The Southwest Arterial project will provide an alternate, direct and efficient route for traffic through southwestern Dubuque, which will provide significant travel time savings by avoiding the numerous signalized intersections on Highway 61/151, Highway 20 and Central Avenue (Hwy 52/3) through Dubuque, thereby providing fuel energy savings, reducing vehicle emissions and improving air quality. The Southwest Arterial project will be designed and constructed with forward thinking sustainability initiative incorporated, which will include an environmentally and resource sensitive highway corridor, an integrated bike / pedestrian trail with amenities, and Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technology.

Current Status
The preliminary engineering design phase is completed and the Southwest Arterial project is now proceeding with the final engineering design phase, right-of-way property acquisition and archaeological and cultural resource phase III mitigation work. 

       
      Preliminary Design Alignment Aerial Location Map 

Final Engineering Design
In March, 2009, the City approved the selection of AECOM to complete the final engineering design phase. On August 27th, 2009, the City received official Iowa DOT notification that the FHWA has given approval for AECOM to proceed with the final design phase.

The technical design team is currently working on final engineering design elements, including: interchange layout and configuration, bridge and structures design, geotechnical subsurface investigation, sustainable highway design concepts, architectural and landscape enhancement concepts, wetland delineations and mitigation.

As part of the final design phase of the Southwest Arterial, the Iowa DOT and the FHWA required that a formal Value Engineering (VE) Study be conducted. The primary objective of the Study was to identify potential modifications that might decrease the construction cost or to increase the value of the project. In November, 2009, the Value Engineering Study was completed and a final report was issued.

The most significant value engineering (VE) alternative under strong consideration is the proposed modifications to the Southwest Arterial / U.S. 20 / Seippel Road interchange area. These changes could include; use of roundabouts, changes to the ramp layouts, changes to the access road layouts, eliminate the need for a cross-over bridge, and possibly eliminate the need to purchase three (3) properties along Cousins Road. The potential VE savings to incorporate these savings are in the magnitude of $5.9 million.

The full extent of the potential VE savings will be evaluated and further refined as the project team proceeds into the final design phases, evaluates environmental impacts, property acquisition impacts and the City conducts public informational meetings on the proposed Southwest Arterial / U.S. 20 / Seippel Road interchange configurations under consideration.

      Click Here for Additional Information on Final Design

Property Acquisition
In February, 2009, the City signed a joint partnership agreement between the City and the Iowa DOT to perform right-of-way property acquisition services for the Southwest Arterial Project. On September 10, 2009, the City received official Iowa DOT notification that the FHWA has given approval and authorization to proceed with right-of-way acquisition.

The City and the Iowa DOT property acquisition staff are currently proceeding with right-of-way property acquisition for the 44 impacted properties. As of December 2010, the City has purchased 16 properties for a total purchase expenditure in the amount of $3.1 million to-date. There are currently 28 properties that are temporarily on-hold while the design team further evaluated the proposed value engineering (VE) modifications to the SW Arterial / U.S. 20 / Seippel Road interchange area and performs additional geotechnical investigation near Military Road and the Highway 151/61 interchange to verify property impact limits.

      Click Here for Additional Information on Property Acquisition

Archaeological and Cultural Resource Mitigation
In the Summer of 2010, work began on the architectural and cultural resource mitigation phase of the project. The City anticipates that 75% of the mitigation sites will be completed by December 2010. The remainng mitigation sites will be completed as those respective properties are acquired and prior to the start of construction.

Construction
To maximize available funding, the City is moving forward with "fast track" phased project components to construct Southwest Arterial improvements that will provide immediate public benefits and create significant construction efficiencies for the future grading and paving of the four-lane freeway between Highway 151/61 and Highway 20.

The first phase of construction began in September, 2010, with the reconstruction of North Cascade Road. The project will provide for the reconstruction (grading and paving) and realignment of North Cascade Road which will allow the Southwest Arterial to travel under the new North Cascade Road Bridge. The second construction phase, The English Mill Road reconstruction project, is scheduled to begin in early spring/summer of 2011 and will involve side road improvements that will allow the highway to travel under the new English Mill Road Bridge.

      Click Here for Additional Information on Construction

Project Cost
Based on current funding levels, an alternate interim phase under consideration would provide for the grading of four-lanes between Highway 151/61 to Highway 20, pave two-lane highway between Highway 151/61 to Highway 20, with interchanges at Highway 151/61 and at Highway 20. The preliminary cost projection for the interim two-lane highway is $98.3 million. The current available funding for the Southwest Arterial is $66.4 million, and is summarized as follows:
 

Total Funding Projection Summary		Status	Amount
Total Federal Funds		Committed	$  32,805,334
Total State Funds		Committed	$  17,760,000
Total Local Funds		Committed	$  15,808,967
Total Federal / State / Local Funding:			$  66,374,301

At current funding levels, there is a $32 million funding shortfall for the Southwest Arterial to complete the interim 2-lane highway between Highway 20 and Highway 61/151. The preliminary cost projection for the complete four-lane freeway project is $125,000,000. The Southwest Arterial project remains the No. 1 surface transportation priority in the Dubuque area and other funding strategies are being evaluated to ensure that this project continues to moves forward.

      Click Here for Additional Information on Project Cost and Funding