Source: Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
By: Mike Anderson
CEDAR FALLS | After years of preparation but only a few months of work on the ground, Prairie Parkway is open for traffic.
Mayor Jon Crews joined other city leaders at MidWestOne Bank on Prairie Parkway to celebrate the road’s official opening this morning. The road actually opened to traffic Thursday noon and an official ribbon cutting was scheduled for this morning.
Crews was one of the first drivers to take a spin down the road.
“Not much traffic,” he joked. “I didn’t see any accidents.”
A $2 million project, the newly constructed roadway will connect East Viking and Greenhill roads with side road connections to Brandilynn Boulevard, Wild Rye Way, Bluegrass Circle, Caraway Lane and Purple Clover Drive.
Prairie Parkway will serve as an alternate route to Iowa Highway 58 between Greenhill and Viking roads, the scene of numerous accidents in recent years as traffic boomed along with retail development in southern Cedar Falls.
The speed limit on Prairie Parkway will be 25 mph from Greenhill Road to 1,850 feet south of Greenhill Road, then 35 mph from 1,850 feet south of Greenhill Road to Viking Road. A four-lane road, city staff expect it to accommodate more than 10,000 vehicles a day.
The road includes a roundabout near its midsection, which will serve as the traffic hub for the to-be-constructed Indian Grass Parkway. That east-and-west running road will be part of the Western Home Communities development to the west and Pinnacle Prairie development to the east.
The City Council had considered building an additional roundabout at the intersection of Prairie Parkway and Greenhill Road, but dropped the idea in favor of traffic signals due to cost concerns.
Crews will begin installing the signals at the intersection of Prairie Parkway and Greenhill Road around Thanksgiving. The signals will be completed by early January.
A 10-foot-wide recreational trail is included with the road, expected to be completed by next spring. Permanent street lights along Prairie Parkway will be installed in the spring.