Construction is set to being Monday on a $1.88 million sidewalk improvement project along Highways 9 and 75 in Rock Rapids.
The project will install and replace sidewalks and ramps, reconstruct some driveways along key portions of both highways. Sarah Tracy, a transportation planner with the Iowa DOT, said the primary goal of the project is to bring the areas into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and it’s entirely financed with state funding. “This is part of a program the DOT has to ensure that sidewalks and driveways along the state highways are accessible to all users,” Tracy said. “We work with a lot of times smaller communities which would be under 5000 residents that may lack the resources to work on these compliance projects on their own.”
Tracy says traffic on both highways will be able to pass through Rock Rapids during the sidewalk and driveway work. Micah Freece, the Chief Operating Officer and Community Development Director for Rock Rapids, said curbs and sidewalks along the highways have deteriorated and the improvements will make a noticeable difference. “It’s just going to help a lot for accessibility,” Freece said, “everybody that’s on bicycles, scooters, wheelchairs, whatever it may be to get from Point A to Point B, so it’s pretty exciting.”
Officials expect the project to be completed during the 2026 construction season. Similar projects were launched in Audubon, Chariton, Kimballtown, Larchwood, Osage and Sheldon last year. All were part of the program the Iowa DOT launched in early 2012 to address ADA compliance along state highways in smaller cities.
