The Iowa Department of Transportation will host an informational meeting about a pair of bridge replacements at Grand Junction Tuesday, April 1, from 5 to 6:30 pm at the school cafeteria in Grand Junction. The meeting was previously scheduled last month but was postponed due to weather.
Under consideration is the replacement of the overpass over the Union Pacific railroad tracks and the bridge over West Beaver Creek. The bridges, which were built in 1957, are near the end of their lifespans. The Iowa Department of Transportation hopes to replace them within the next four years. The projects are now slated for 2018.
The meeting will be informal with no presentation planned. DOT staffers will be available to discuss the projects in an open forum.
Of particular interest is the railroad overpass. The suggested design for the $6.6 million project salutes the historic Lincoln Highway. Enhancements on the overpass included Lincoln Highway marker icons and a dozen fluted columns on the supports that are reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
Traffic counts show 4,830 vehicles cross the overpass daily. Traffic would be detoured during the project using Highway 144 (north/south on the west side of Grand Junction), County Road E-26 (east/west, five miles north of Highway 30), and Highway 169 (north/south, seven miles east of Grand Junction).
