November 21, 2001: The red lights in the background would be among those eliminated under Cedar Falls’ new plan.
The Waterloo Courier and KWWL both have stories about Cedar Falls’ plans to rebuild University Avenue, which it took over from the Iowa DOT last year. The urban arterial will be converted from six lanes to four, but more importantly many intersections will be converted to roundabouts. That includes the ramps at IA 27/58, which surprises me because I thought those would still be under state control.
In a word, yuck. (And there’s someone who hates them even more than I do.)
This very large PDF draws everything out. Note also that some right-in-right-out (no left turn) places will be added at the expense of eliminating the continual frontage roads.
Meanwhile, the DOT has told the city of Waterloo that it has to put off any potential transfer of jurisdiction of the rest of University because there is no money available. That’s related to uncertainty on the federal level, not the 10-cent increase in Iowa’s gas tax.