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From YouTube: This Week in Ames
Description
Civil Engineer II Eric Cowles stops by to discuss the roundabout going in at the intersection of University Ave. and Airport Road.
A
A
B
Actually
used
to
worry
the
d-o-t
for
a
number
of
years
and
then
spend
a
little
time
in
industry
and
then
had
the
opportunity
moved
back
home
and
worked
with
the
city
of
Ames.
I
was
construction
supervisor
for
four
years,
and
the
last
four
plus
years
I've
been
the
civil
engineer,
helping
to
coordinate
and
work
through
designs
and
right
away
and
development,
and
things
like
that
with
Public
Works
yeah.
A
A
B
B
The
research
park
was
very
involved
in
getting
that
funding
and
the
cities
are
the
Owens
who
can
receive
those
funds.
So
we
are
the
custodians
of
those
funds
and
we're
working
pretty
closely
with
the
research
park
to
extend
the
utilities,
water
and
sanitary
sewer
and,
of
course,
build
a
new
road
extending
university
south
to
what
will
be
the
new.
Is
you
research
park
hub
building
so.
A
The
research
park
really
is
adding
a
lot
of
acres
increasing
their
buildings.
It's
really
an
exciting
time,
and
the
city's
role
in
that
again
is
what
you
just
mentioned
is
to
expand
the
infrastructure
to
support
that
growth.
Really
some
exciting
things
going
on
south
of
town,
but
also
some
opportunities
to
do
things
a
little
differently.
Absolutely.
B
The
the
original
design
concept
actually
considered
roundabouts
and
as
we
move
through
the
process,
we're
like
this
is
a
really
good
thing
to
try.
The
traffic
counts
seem
to
line
up
pretty
well
with
it.
The
tricky
thing
is
is
that
this
is
our
first
roundabout
and
it's
going
to
be
very
sizeable
very
impactful,
as
well
as
two
other
smaller
roundabout
south
of
the
roundabout,
that's
going
to
be
built
at
university
and
airport
road,
the
three
total,
obviously
university
airport
road,
there's
going
to
be
one
at
what
will
be
the
future.
B
Cottonwood
extension
coming
out
of
the
ringer
berg
subdivision
area
and
then,
as
you
get
a
little
further
south
they'll
be
around
about
that,
will
actually
go
into
the
research
park
itself.
So
a
good
opportunity
to
actually
have
one
of
these
put
in
in
a
very
functional
way
and
and
we'll
have
some
a
lot
of
out-of-town
people
coming
through
the
area.
The
in
town,
people
will
have
to
learn
to
navigate
them,
and
it's
going
to
be
a
big
change
for
people
coming
through
that
area.
So.
A
Let's
just
set
the
scene
for
those
who
don't
drive
in
this
part
of
town
very
often
airport,
road
and
south
university
boulevard
is
an
intersection
right
now
controlled
by
a
four-way.
Stop
that's
correct
and
once
I
do
have
the
work
keep
a
building
which
has
gone
through
multiple
expansions,
very
large,
impressive
building,
wessex
apartment
complex
on
the
other
side,
it's
a
busy
busy
intersection
now
at
those
key
times
morning
and
evening
commute
you
can
really
back
up.
There
tell
me
about
how
a
roundabout
will
function
so.
B
You're
absolutely
correct
those
noon
and
morning
or
the
morning
and
afternoon,
rushes
traffic
does
back
up
in
there
because
people
do
have
to
come
to
a
full
stop.
The
the
principle
behind
a
roundabout
is
to
maintain
a
flow
of
traffic
through
the
area,
so
you're
not
coming
to
a
full
stop
and
waiting
for
somebody
to
take
their
turn
to
navigate
the
intersection.
B
The
intent
of
the
is
to
come
up,
and
you
look
to
your
left
because
that's
the
only
direction
in
which
traffic
is
coming
as
you're
coming
through
the
roundabout
and
if
you're
clear
you
can
slowly
go
through
the
intersection.
So
you're
you've
always
got
traffic
rotating
through
the
roundabout
at
all
times,
and
it
really
does
help
move
things
along.
There's
definitely
going
to
be
an
educational
component
to
this,
as
we
don't
have
a
roundabout
in
town,
currently,
the
closest
roundabout
that
we
have
is
obviously
Gilbert
that
was
installed
a
couple
of
years
ago.
B
B
A
B
Correct
so
to
move
traffic,
the
western
side
of
it
will
be
essentially
a
two-lane
roundabout,
the
morph
into
almost
a
single
lane,
roundabout
on
the
east
side,
the
intent
there.
Is
it
just
the
way
the
traffic
moves
through
that
area?
That's
kind
of
what
was
dictating
that
one
of
the
things
that
we
are
allowing
for
is
we're
designing
this
to
handle
traffic
today
with
some
future
projections,
but
there
there
is
a
plan
to
add
some
additional
lanes,
not
within
the
roundabout,
to
help
people
navigate
through,
as
the
research
part
continues
to
expand.
A
B
Correct
in
a
very
general
sense,
absolutely
true!
So
as
you
come
to
the
roundabout
you
as
a
vehicle,
as
you
come
up,
the
geometry,
the
roundabout
actually
swings
you
and
makes
you
turn
a
little
bit
which
causes
you
to
slow
down
and,
as
you
do,
that
you'll
come
up
to
a
pedestrian
crossing
and
vehicles
are
required
to
yield
to
pedestrians
and
bicycles
in
those
crosswalks.
B
So
you've
got
to
come
up
being
aware
of
those
surroundings
as
well,
but
if
that's
clear
and
there's
nobody
coming
from
the
the
left-
and
you
want
to
make
a
right
hand
turn
where,
before
in
a
normal
intersection,
you
got
to
come
up
and
do
a
full
stop
legally,
even
though
most
people
are
probably
do
a
rolling
stop,
you
are
able
to
to
essentially
roll
through
that
roundabout.
As
long
as
the
path
is
clear
now.
B
Roundabouts
actually
do
provide
a
nice
safety
feature
for
pedestrians
and
bicycles.
We
call
those
refuge
islands
between
the
lanes
of
traffic,
so
today
excuse
me
if,
if
you
want
across
university
boulevard
from
the
west
side
to
the
east
side
at
airport
road,
you
have
five
points
of
conflict
when
the
roundabout
is
put
in.
So
you
have
to
essentially
with
those
five
points
of
conflict.
You
have
to
look
to
your
left
for
the
two
three
lanes,
as
well
as
the
turn
lane.
B
That
would
be
the
movement
from
the
southbound
to
eastbound,
and
then
you
have
to
look
ahead
to
see.
You
know
who's
coming
to
make
that
northbound
past
as
well.
So
you've
got
five
points
of
conflict
with
the
roundabout
you're
going
to
come
through
and
there's
going
to
be
a
lane
coming
to
the
east,
which
would
be
the
movement
we
just
talked
about
and
you're
only
having
to
look
to
the
left
for
vehicles,
so
you're
looking
there
and
if
that's
clear,
you
can
go
and
that's
the
only
point.
B
The
only
impactful
thing
that
you
would
have
is
you're
coming
up
there
and
then,
as
you
get
to
these
islands,
you
their
refuge
islands,
you
can
cross
a
single
lane
of
traffic
and
if
somebody
is
coming
that
you
didn't
see,
it
provides
you
an
opportunity
to
stop
there
and
wait
for
the
lane
to
clear,
and
then
you
have
that
opportunity
to
continue
on
through
the
intersection.
So
it
does
provide
some
nice
safety
features.
Well,.
A
And
I
think,
like
every
driver,
myself
included,
we
all
need
to
be
more
cognizant
of
the
bikers
and
pedestrians
in
our
community.
I
find
myself
looking
left
and
forgetting
to
look
right
and
forgetting
that
there
might
be
a
pedestrian
or
biker
wanting
to
cross,
and
this
also,
like
you
mentioned,
will
take
some
time
to
get
used
to
it.
I'm
looking
forward
to
practicing
not
at
five
o'clock,
alright
or
eight
a.m.
but
practicing
the
roundabout
when
maybe
it's
a
low
traffic
time
sure.
B
And
they
do
function
very,
very
well.
There's
lots
of
literature
out
there
on
them.
People
tend
to
either
love
them
or
hate
them,
as
they
start
out,
usually
more
of
the
hate
side
of
them
and
once
they're
in
place,
and
people
start
to
use
them
more,
that
the
people
who
really
don't
like
them,
that
population
decreases
you.
B
Used
to
it
so
and
we're
expecting
that
we've
kind
of
seen
some
of
that,
the
piers
that
I've
talked
to
out
there
that
have
installed.
These
I
was
just
a
conference
last
week
and
we're
going
through
some
of
the
things
that
we've
gone
through,
like
yep
you're
about
where
we
were-
and
you
said
a
year
from
now,
ask
those
same
people
what
they
really
think,
there's
probably
to
be
some
that
will
still
dislike
them.
But
the
majority
of
those
folks
that
dislike
them
in
getting
will
actually
come
to
appreciate
them.
B
We
we
anticipate
bidding
the
project
here
in
early
May.
We
should
have
a
contractor
under
contract
by
early
to
mid
June
and
any
time
after
that,
I
would
I
would
assume
they're
going
to
break
ground.
So
there
has
been
some
activity
out
there
right
now.
We
just
did
a
tree
clearing
contract
due
to
the
Indiana
bat
restrictions
on
being
able
to
take
down
trees.
So
we
did
a
separate,
smaller
contract
to
do
some
tree
clearing
that's
affecting
the
project.
B
B
The
the
nice
thing
that
went
along
with
that
particular
tree
clearing
is
those
were
green
ash
trees,
so
they
would
have
been
slated
for
removal
anyway,
with
our
emerald
ash
borer
program,
so
kind
of
helped
out
with
that
a
little
bit.
We
also
have
on
the
street
for
bid
right
now
the
utility
package,
so
we've
got
three
contracts
total.
We
have
the
tree
package,
the
utility
package
and
the
roadway
package
which
are
before
coming.
The
utility
package
is
out
for
bid
right
now
and
that's
the
water
and
sanitary
sewer
that'll
be
going
in.
B
So
the
water
main
will
connect
on
south
of
work
Eva
and
then
also
over
on
Riverside
Drive,
and
we
will
loop
that
water
main
in
and
connect
it
into
in
front
of
the
hub
building.
So
there'll
be
a
continual
water
main
loop
out
there
to
be
able
to
serve
those
properties,
and
then
the
sanitary
sewer
we're
connecting
into
the
main
that
runs
along
the
creek
there.
So
the
infrastructure
will
be
there
within
probably
by
the
middle
and
in
November.
We
should
be
fully
functional.
So.
B
A
B
One
we
have
underway
right
now,
just
started
last
week
is
the
reconstruction
of
Hayward
I.
Wasn't
the
engineer
on
that
project,
but
I
can
show
you
some
of
the
gaps
it's
from
lincoln
way
up
to.
I
believe
arbor
and
that's
excuse
me
I
believe
from
Chamberlain
to
Arbor.
Is
the
pavements
gone
right
now
so
that.
B
Little
bit
of
change
there
and
the
intention
is
to
maintain
traffic
through
the
intermodal
facility
at
all
times.
So
that's
a
large
campus
town
impact
there.
We
have
another
one
over
on
West
Street
from
Sheldon
going
west
and
then
we're
west
and
woodland
split
we're
going
to
be
working
in
those
areas
too.
So
if
you're
driving
through
that
part
of
the
part
of
town
there's
going
to
be
some
some
closures
going
on
through
there
and
then
there's
some
sanitary
sewer
repair
that
we're
going
to
doing
at
the
intersection
of
Highland
and
west
street.
So.
B
There's
there's
going
to
be
pried.
The
largest
project
going
on
the
north
side
of
town
will
be
the
reconstruction
of
twenty
fourth
street
from
the
railroad
tracks
east
to
north
western
avenue.
So
that'll
traffic
will
be
maintained
through
there
at
all
times.
Sigh
red
will
still
maintain
their
routes
through
the
area,
but
it's
going
to
be
very,
very
tight.
Moving
through
there.
B
What
we
typically
find
with
our
projects
is
the
first
few
days
everybody
is
using
their
same
traffic
patterns
that
they've
always
used,
and
then
they
realize
that
it's
inconvenient
they
find
different
ways
to
navigate
through
those
areas
which
I
fully
expect
in
this
case.
But
that
should
be
that's.
That's
this
year's
construction,
I,
don't
have
a
start
down
and
when
they're
going
to
go
after
that,
but
as
a
part
of
that
as
well
there's
a
small
section
of
Bloomington
road
east
of
Eisenhower.
That's
also
going
to
be
done
in
conjunction
with
that
project.
A
B
Since
we're
talking
North
Grant
Avenue
on
the
west
side
of
ada
hayden,
the
utilities
were
put
in
last
fall
and
we
are
going
to
bid
that
contract
the
same
time.
We
bid
the
research
part
contract
and
hopes
that
we
can
get
some
some
good
pricing
there.
So
that's
essentially
to
take
the
where
the
pavement
ends.
It
hide
today
and
continue
that
up
to
190th
street,
so
yeah.
B
A
Well,
clearly,
you're
busy
and
I'm
glad
you
had
a
few
minutes
to
stop
by
and
join
us
absolutely
well
thanks.
You
can
get
more
information,
as
I
said
on
our
website
at
City
main
store,
look
for
construction
updates
and
we'll
get
that
information
updated
for
you
as
quickly
as
possible
to
some
other
items
for
your
calendar,
remember,
yard.
Waste
free
day
is
scheduled
for
saturday
april
eleventh
that
will
be
8am
to
4pm.
You
can
get
more
information
on
our
website
about
that
as
well.