DAVENPORT, Iowa — Downtown Davenport Partnership will discuss the conversion of Third and Fourth streets into two-ways during the Davenport City Council discussion on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
Converting the streets has been contemplated since the 1980s, and the project will cost a lot of money, time and road-closure confusion for travelers.
"We know that this has been a hot topic for a long time, but ultimately, there are stacks of studies that agree that this is a good idea," Downtown Davenport Partnership Executive Director Kyle Carter said. " We're also aware that there has to be a balance between walkability and growth of downtown and our adjacent neighborhoods and traffic efficiency."
The city has secured $10 million in federal grant money to reconstruct Telegraph through Harrison streets.
"Plus, the Downtown Partnership, which is made up of the downtown property owners and businesses have agreed to pay for almost 35-40% of the conversion costs over 10 years to help the city pay for that bond, which is between $600,000-700,000, which is real money," Carter said.
The plan is to convert Third and Fourth streets at the same time, while also building a Fourth Street flood detour.
"There is no other neighborhood in the city that would ever be built from the ground up with one-way pairs running through it that are four lanes wide and move as quickly as these do," Carter said.
The one-way streets in downtown Davenport have raised safety concerns because the neighborhood has expanded to include 2,000 residents but the infrastructure hasn't.
The two-way road discussion will take place at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday at Davenport City Hall.