Construction began in earnest this week on a project to widen and repave Bateman Street between First Avenue and Fourth Street, Rawson Street between Second and Third streets and both Third and Fourth streets between Bateman and Rawson streets.
The work has been planned since the fall of 2019, when the Perry City Council voted to vacate one block of Second Street. At that time the council also approved an application to the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) for a grant through the Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy (RISE) program.
The state RISE money was expected to cover most of the project’s cost, then estimated at $2.2 million. But the Iowa DOT granted only $850,000 in RISE funds to Perry in January 2020, right before the COVID-19 global pandemic disrupted the world, and by 2022 the cost of the street work had risen to $3.2 million.
Happily for Perry, Uncle Sam came through with about $1.2 million in funding in the form of a public works grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA). The city accepted the federal EDA funds in August 2020, leaving the city’s share of the project at about $994,000, including up to $218,000 in design fees to Bolton and Menk, the city’s engineering firm, and $20,000 to the Region XII Council of Governments for administration of the EDA contract.
The city’s nearly $1 million portion of the project will be paid out of tax increment financing (TIF) revenues, according to Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson, which will not increase Perry residents’ property taxes. TIF revenues are generated “from the increase in value that these properties or these projects will promote,” Peterson said.
The narrow streets around the Progressive Foundry and Wiese Industries have apparently undergone very little improvement since the Milwaukee Road abandoned its railway right of way in 1979.
“The streets in there were probably built a long time ago, when there were narrow street designs,” Peterson said, “so this will offer a little bit wider street and better access for vehicles and trucks getting in and out of those areas.”
Crow River Construction of New London, Minnesota, started demolition of Bateman Street Friday, placing traffic control devices along First Avenue (Iowa Highway 144) in order to warn motorists of the closure of Bateman Street east of First Avenue.
Stages 2, 3 and 4 of the project, indicated on the map above, will be completed as time and weather allow this fall, with all remaining stages to be completed by spring 2023.
The Progressive Foundry will host a daylong celebration Monday, Sept. 19 in order to celebrate their expansion, including an 11 a.m. ribbon cutting by the Perry Chamber of Commerce and an open house and free tours of the entire factory at 1518 First Ave. in Perry.
For more information on the public works street project, call the Perry City Hall at 515-465-2481.
