North Corridor Roads "Improvement"

[cootie]

This Thursday (the 12th) is the big day that the Johnson County Board of Supervisors will vote on whether or not to widen and straighten the rest Prairie du Chien (north of Newport Rd turn) and Newport Rd (the entire length, from Prairie du Chien to Hwy 1). I attended the board meeting yesterday afternoon in which the engineering firm (Anderson-Bogert Consulting Engineers) that designed the proposed changes made their final presentation. If you want more info, there is a wonderful clearinghouse at www.jcnc-roadwork.com/

The JCBOS has declared their commitment to development, and 3 of the 5 board members support this proposal. What this means is that this road "improvement" project will widen and straighten the roads and make them look much like the stretch of Prairie du Chien from Dodge St to the Newport Rd turn. This will alter the landscape and encourage housing developments on both roads. That is SUBURBAN SPRAWL, and it's incredibly wasteful. One issue for development is there is no housing demand in these areas, so the road improvement will increase interest. So, they are banking on creating supply in order to encourage demand, yet at the same time there is vacancy in housing within Iowa City. Instead of encouraging a strong city center in each community, with residents living within walking/biking/busing distance of needed services, the majority of the JCBOS is supporting suburban sprawl in which the residents of such areas must DRIVE THEIR CARS to fulfill their needs within the city, their new spacious roads will sit atop the ground where hundreds of trees once stood, and their nice, new vinyl houses will be a sore spot for all their neighbors who are at-present fighting the proposal.

As a cyclist I know I am one of many that feels this will degrade the quality of life we enjoy in this area. Newport Rd is one of my favorite places to ride, and it's a beautiful road, as is. It would be shameful to destroy the unique character of this road when there are other options for development.

What to do!!

Send an email to the three supporters of this proposal, urging them to vote against this for the greater good of Johnson County. Highway 1 and Dubuque St are two arterials that can serve sufficiently to bring in out-of-town commuters and tourists from the north. Developing these roads is unnecessary, and it's an expense we tax-payers must bear!! Here are the email addresses:

Pat Harney
[e-mail]

Sally Stutsman
[e-mail]

Mike Lehman
[e-mail]

You don't have to write much, just let them know who you are, where you live, and that you are urging them to vote against this proposal.

Thanks!!

[cootie]

The JCBOS voted 4-to-1 in favor of this road alteration plan. Rod Sullivan kept his word and voted against it, while Terrence Neuzil made a surprise vote in favor of it. The three supervisors listed in the previous post voted in favor, as was expected.

A friend of ours (me & gpickle) told us in defense of the plan, "People need somewhere to live." Yes, we understand this, and we are not anti-development. We favor sensible development and wholeheartedly support sustainable development. A major flaw in this plan is the lack of demand for housing in this area. There is high vacancy in Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and Tiffin. These are places that already have access to the grid. The proposed areas north of Iowa City are NOT on the water/sewer line. All the folks that live on these roads use well or sistern water sources. The money and energy required to establish housing in this area is high, and once people do start populating these new neighborhoods, they will not have accessibility that will not require a car.

We all know the advantages of human-scaled development... this means structures made not for cars but for actual people, and this includes people on bicycles. The proposed North Corridor roads are intended to encourage suburban sprawl, which is completely dependent upon cars. This is stepping further away from human-scaled communities.

If you are a resident of Johnson County or suburban sprawl troubles you, I urge you, again, to write to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. The three strong supporters of sprawl are listed above with their email addresses. Also, to add to this list is the man who spoke against but then voted for it:

Terrence Neuzil
[e-mail]

And, the one man who voted against it deserves a thank-you:

Hooray for Rod Sullivan!
[e-mail]

They haven't broken any asphalt yet, so it isn't too late to reopen this issue!! Please, send an email today. How long will it take? Five minutes??

Thanks again!

[1eftcoastgrave1]

it seems that the jcbs is, once again, in bed with the local developers and paving companies. everything i have heard regarding all the studies of traffic flow points to no need to widen or straighten any part of the northern corridor. as one of the fastest growing counties in the country with a reputaion as being progressive and forward thinking, it is sad to see it fail to explore more creative growth solutions. kudos to all who raise hell. and for christ's sake, please send some e mails.
ira ryan

[cootie]

There is a JCBOS meeting this Thursday the 26th at 7pm at Southslope in North Liberty. The agenda is to discuss the final road design for Newport and Prairie du Chien. I encourage anyone with any interest whatsoever in these roads to attend. The board needs to hear from the public. Gpickle & I will be riding from Iowa City to attend, if anyone would like to ride with us. Send me an email, and we can discuss the details.

Cody
[e-mail]

[the weiner posse]

i unfortunately was not able to join you two tonight...

but i am quite interested in how it went...

may we get a recap...?

[cootie]

The meeting last Thursday was a mix of frustration & some bit of relief. The majority of the BOS is still pushing for the wider version of these roads, 34' rather than working with the 28' that would satisfy safety codes yet preserve the road's character. That is seriously disappointing as it is just status quo development style that is so draining to our resources. Despite this there are some specifics to the road plan that the board unanimously decided to keep the same. There has been some debate over two curves on Newport, and some big changes were proposed by A-B (the engineers) to make the Newport/Prairie du Chien junction a higher flow point. One of the two curves might be widened into an easier, higher speed curve (because high speed means safety??), while the other was decided to be left alone for now. It was also decided to leave the junction as is for the time being, and if it needs to handle a higher flow of traffic in the future, then it should be dealt with when the need is there.

I have to say that Supervisor Rod Sullivan was great at this meeting. This is a quote from a letter Mr. Sullivan presented to the board almost a year ago as to why he opposes the proposed roadwork in the North Corridor.


* First, counties were given the power to zone land for two express purposes--protecting agricultural land, and protecting the environment. 26,000 acres of Iowa farmland is lost each year to sprawl-catalyzed by road construction. Only 4 % of the earth's surface is tillable. I do not feel that our current Land Use Plan does enough to protect farmland or the environment. The proposed Roads Plan will only serve to exacerbate these issues.


* Secondly, we all know that development will follow roads. I have long held that it is irresponsible to build a road (thereby encouraging development) until we are sure that the area can handle other infrastructure needs--water and sewer, for example. The Board of Supervisors agreed to participate in a study of the Silurian Aquifer in the area, but the data from that study is not yet available. To my knowledge, no projections have been done on septic capacity. We need to know how many homes the area can handle before we build any roads.


* Finally, I believe we need to emphasize residential, industrial, and commercial growth in the cities and villages of Johnson County. 50% of the land inside of city limits in Iowa remains undeveloped. While new roads are routinely built within cities, it is unprecedented to build a new road in the County. While developers pay for new city streets, all of us will pay for a new County road. Cities offer the services taxpayers want and need. We should encourage people to live in our urban areas. Doing otherwise only promotes sprawl and costs money. That is correct--residential building in the unincorporated areas costs every person in this county. Rural residential development almost never pays for itself. For every dollar of residential taxes the County receives, approximately $1.09 is spent on county services. (Johnson County Development Impact Study, 1999.) If the County were a business and you a shareholder, would you want us to continue getting this return on investment?

www.jcnc-roadwork.com/RodSullivanLetterBOS.htm


These are very pertinent points, and he stuck to these ideas at the meeting, at one point telling the engineers that if they could not come up with the designs he has been asking for, he would find someone who could. And, I think perhaps it would be in the county's best interest to fire A-B, since they are viewing this project as an already developed area. Like gpickle said to me on our ride home, "It seems like they're doing this to win some kind of engineering award." It does, indeed. Their approach is one that addresses this area as a model for quaint, midwestern living... the Midwestern Dream that includes a couple trees in the backyard, a lot of pavement and a ten-minute drive downtown. It's a rehash of suburbia. One that doesn't pay for itself and drains the resources of cities.

A chicken in every pot & a car in every garage?? Enough already!


For fuller details I urge you to sift through the links on Harvey Henry's website.

www.jcnc-roadwork.com/

[the weiner posse]

thanks for the recap cootie...!

it's unfortunate that greed seems to bleed its way into practically everything in our society...

logic and good sense shouldn't have to fight this hard...