Sarah Watson
Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus, Ill.
(TNS)
Mar. 24—It’s orange cone season in Davenport.
Several major construction projects are getting underway as the weather warms this spring, including the completion of 53rd Street, Fire Station No. 3, and the start of a $20 million Duck Creek sewer line project.
With an infusion of federal American Rescue Plan dollars and other grants, Davenport residents will see an unusually high number of construction projects completed in the next few years, city officials said.
“Not just the quantity, but the large-scale nature of it (construction projects),” said Assistant Public Works Director Clay Merritt. “I can speak to my time in nine years coming on 10, we’ve only had maybe three $9 million-plus projects. This summer, we’re probably going to have three or four happening at the same time.”
City officials are urging residents to be patient and drive carefully around the city’s numerous road, sewer, parks, facilities, and trail work.
“There’s a lot of construction occurring so, once again, asking the public, please be patient as we work through this,” Merritt said. “We think everyone will be extremely happy with the end result and the new improvements in the amenities and the infrastructure that we’re building. We just need to take the time to get there.”
Fire station to wrap up construction this year
Motorists on North Brady Street or Welcome Way and 42nd Street have likely seen the towers and framing that will become a new Davenport fire station.
The $10.7 million building will replace Fire Station No. 3, a more than 60-year-old building at 3506 N. Harrison Street. The new location allows for easier access to both north- and south-bound one-ways, which city officials have said will reduce response times.
The building also includes a 60-person community room, larger space for fire apparatus, and airlock vestibules to keep chemicals out of community areas.
Merritt estimated construction will be completed by November of this year.
“Almost every single week, you’re seeing a different change, a different look,” he said. “Thankfully, we had a fairly mild winter, at least from a construction standpoint, and so we’ve been able to proceed pretty much throughout the entirety of the winter on that construction.”
East 53rd Street also to be completed
Construction crews are expected to wrap up the final phases of one of Davenport’s busiest thoroughfares, Merritt said.
The final 0.8 miles from From Lorton Avenue to Eastern Avenue will be reconstructed and widened this year, with a recreational trail added too.
Motorists will begin seeing lane reductions on Monday as construction closes two lanes between Eastern Avenue and Jersey Ridge Road. Side streets to the south will also be closed intermittently, according to the city.
By the end of the year, drivers will see the final product of the years-long construction.
The $16.2 million 53rd Street reconstruction project is a four-year, two-phase, multi-segment project that completely reconstructed the four-lane roadway between Brady Street and Elmore Circle. Part of the funding came from federal grants.
Federal COVID-19 relief funds projects
The city plans to extend a sewer line west of Davenport, following Duck Creek from about North Division Street past I-280. The bulk of the $20 million multi-year project is being paid for by some of the city’s $40.94 million allocation from the federal Am