First Avenue has been under construction in Cedar Rapids since late spring, and now a project in the downtown area will reshape a key intersection even more. Below I am reprinting the item from the city (linked here at the time of this post):
Starting Wednesday, September 6 [sic], 1st Street W will be closed to all traffic from 1st Avenue W to 2nd Avenue SW, and from 1st Avenue W to E Avenue NW, for permanent flood control construction. The closure is expected to be in place until fall of 2023. East/west traffic on 1st Avenue will be maintained.
This phase of permanent flood control construction includes relocating the 1st Avenue and 1st Street W intersection approximately 25 feet to the west to accommodate a future flood gate across 1st Avenue W. Additionally, 1st Street SW will be relocated westward, and 1st Street NW will be elevated over the top of the flood control system.
This intersection has significance in Iowa’s highway history. Starting in 1931, 1st Avenue at 1st Street SW is where US 161 split off from US 30 to head south to Iowa City. (In the decade before that, the primary highways through downtown Cedar Rapids used 2nd Avenue instead of 1st. That is the subject of a blog post I haven’t written yet but the dissertation on it is here.) When US 161 was broken up on January 1, 1938, US 151’s endpoint was southwestbound 1st Avenue at 1st Street, where it met US 218.
All the buildings in the intersection area were demolished as part of Cedar Rapids’ at-this-point quixotic quest for a casino. Google Street View went through the area before the empty space was created, although I missed the photo window before this year’s construction began. (Here’s the July 2012 view for the 1938-40 end of US 151.)