Roads. The things we take to travel from point A to point B. When roads are nice and new, there is nothing like the feeling of gliding over some nice new pavement, just something that truly must be experienced first-hand. But eventually, the roads become not-so-nice whether that be from constant use, various weather conditions, or anything else that puts the roads into disrepair. At first, it is easy to blame the local government and say “they should get on to fixing the roads” but, here’s the thing— they are. Not only has Cedar Rapids had a plan in place to repair and reconstruct the city’s roads for the past eleven years but this plan will continue on until June 30th, 2034. 

So let’s talk about it, the roads of Cedar Rapids. How are they addressing what roads need to be repaired? Is the maintenance improving driving conditions? Has the city been doing what they promised? Then after the dust settles it will finally be clear if Cedar Rapids’ roads are wrecked or repaired.

First it is important to talk about how the city’s plan is actually addressing the fixing of the roads. The city actually has a plan laid out in the Paving for Progress Program. In short, the city is getting the funds to do these repairs through an optional sales tax that businesses can choose to adopt. This money is then put aside only for road related projects. They go about repairing the roads by first looking at the cities snow plough routes, which measures the traffic roads get to help prioritize cleaning routes after snowfall. A busier road means more vehicles traveling on it. More vehicle travel means more wear on the road. More wear on the road means it’s going to need to be repaired sooner.

The city has two ways that it goes about repairing roads: preventative maintenance and complete reconstruction. Preventative maintenance focuses on roads that are less deteriorated, but are still in need of repair. Instead of digging up the whole street—utilities and all—they instead do a surface repair that can extend the life of these roads. This kind of repair doesn’t take a long time and has less impact on drivers than the other method of repair, complete reconstruction. 

Complete reconstruction is well, the complete reconstruction of a road. They rip out the road layer, replace utilities(water lines, gas lines, and sewage networks) located under the roadway, repair the top layer, and bada-bing bada-boom a new road perfect to drive on. This is done only when a road is deemed too far into disrepair to be saved by preventative maintenance and is much more impactful to residents as roadways will be closed down for much longer periods of time.

Now, is this actually helping driving conditions? The answer is simply yes. While there are still many main and residential roads that could use some work, that doesn’t take away from the fact that road work is getting done. Any improvement means the roads are improving and that is only for the better. One of these major improvements that are coming in the future is that there is finally a definitive plan in place for the reconstruction of the 8th Avenue Bridge. 

There have been talks about repairing this bridge since the 2008 flood because the bridge is very old, around 86 years old to be exact, and it desperately needs repairs. The most recent failed plan for this bridge’s reconstruction was in 2019. The Gazette reported on this topic, saying that plans would be completed in 2020 and construction would start in 2023. That was two years ago. Now there is a plan, the funds, and enough transparency about the project that it is safe to say that this project is here to stay.

So while Cedar Rapids roads might not be the best in the world by a long shot, at least there is a plan and this time the city seems to be following through.