May 30, 2003: The standard right-turn lane to Atkins is no longer sufficient for traffic needs.
From the category of “construction projects that should have happened a decade ago but didn’t,” there are two little ones that could provide big relief.
First, a LONG right-turn lane is being built on US 30/218 at the Atkins corner (old IA 279). Atkins has become a bedroom community for Cedar Rapids and there is a lot of traffic returning at the end of the day. Now if E Avenue could get paved from Atkins east to IA 100, that would be an improvement as well.
Second, a right-turn lane is being built in Dysart from eastbound IA 8/21 to southbound IA 21. It’s extraordinarily odd/stupid that one has never been built, especially since that’s the flow of IA 21. Its emergence now, I think, is for a better connection to US 30. Drivers that otherwise went through Vinton to get to 30 and avoid the two-lane west of there, myself included, can now go down 21 to pick up the four-lane.