2020 Top 500 Sourcebook: Ironing Out Iowa's Interstate

HDR is improving I-29/I-80 on-ramps and the overpass over Expressway Street in Council Bluffs.

PHOTO COURTESY T.Y. LIN

The $1.3-billion Council Bluffs Interstate System Program is approximately two-thirds of the way toward achieving its goal of modernizing the highway system serving metropolitan Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Neb. Program manager/general engineering consultant HDR is assisting Iowa DOT in implementing a comprehensive redesign of Interstates 29, 80 and 480, in an effort that includes 47 bridges, 12 interchanges and 147 highway lane miles. With some portions of the interstate network handling as many as 76,000 vehicles a day, individual projects have been grouped strategically to minimize construction impacts to local and through travelers. The program, which began construction in 2008 with the I-80 Missouri River Bridge, is on track to be completed in 2024. Remaining projects include major upgrades to three interchanges, including the complex I-29/I-480/West Broadway system that will begin construction in late 2020.

Related Link: ENR 2020 Top Design Firms Sourcebook (subscription required)

Jim Parsons is a freelance writer who covers the industry from metro Washington, DC.

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