Plans approved for turn lane, water main
June 22, 2012 · Jen Rothmeyer, Sun news

Two Lisbon municipal projects have had their plans and specs approved and are going out for bid - one for a turn lane on Hwy. 30 to create access to the potential new Brothers Market grocery store and one for water main improvements in the city.

The Lisbon City Council held hearings on the two projects during its meeting last week. The city reported to the Sun that the turn lane project is estimated at $570,000, and the water main at $430,000.

Hwy 30 turn lane

The Hwy. 30 turn lane is requested by Brothers Market to have better access to its proposed store from Hwy. 30.

The turn lane begins to taper into the turn lane just east of Novak Road on Hwy. 30, becomes a full-turn lane at the new Gillette Lane, and then tapers back out before the next driveway to the north. The new Gillette Lane will go north from Hwy. 30 and end just past the intersection with Commercial Street to its west.

The speed limit on Hwy. 30 at that point is currently 55 miles per hour, city administrator Chris Yancey said.

The bid for this project will be selected on Monday. The start date will depend on which contractor is awarded the bid, but the scheduled completion date for the work is Oct. 1.

All of the money for this project is being provided by the city because the Iowa Department of Transportation turned down a grant, Yancey told the Sun.

It is not known at this time if there will be any construction detours.

Water Main project

The water main improvement project is focusing on bringing water mains up to an 8-inch diameter and continuing the process of looping all of Lisbon together to create redundancies that will assist in the case of a water main break, city engineer Dave Schechinger explained.

Bids are being received until today (Thursday, June 21), selected at the council meeting on June 25, and construction will begin when the contractor is available. All substantial work is to be finished by Nov. 30, with the seeding and final clean-up finished by June 1, 2013.

Yancey told the Sun there would be no construction detours throughout the process.

Lisbon resident LuAnn Yarbrough spoke at the council meeting about her reluctance to sign the easement for her property. She's been vocal at several council meetings and work sessions about her disapproval of the project and the way that city projects are left after they are finished.

Yarbrough said she had two concerns: "I don't want to see the mess it is going to create" and "I've got a funny feeling the only reason you're putting this in is to loop it to the grocery store."

Yancey said that was not the case, and later Yancey told the Sun that Yarbrough would have a larger water main service.