Large retail stores, restaurants, shopping, and businesses like Rockwell Collins, make northwestern Coralville a hot spot for visitors. As a result, high levels of activity were creating the need for more capacity in the roadway network. The challenge was moving these numerous vehicles as efficiently as possible in a relatively small area while keeping traffic flowing and minimally impacting employees’ routes to work.

The developer agreed with the City to lead the project but needed to get the Heartland Drive portion of improvements completed by the Fall of 2013.

To efficiently move traffic through this busy area, along with providing access to future developments, a 5-leg roundabout was McClure’s solution. Coralville has an established, growing roundabout network throughout the City and an educated population on how they function. With this, the idea of a roundabout made the most sense. The roundabout allowed the City to accommodate large volumes of through traffic while offering an opportunity for land to be developed north and south of the roundabout. As a result, traffic can continuously flow through this area in a safe, efficient manner.

McClure was hired in early February of 2013 and used an accelerated Design-build approach that allowed the initial phases to start construction in May 2013 before the entire project was designed fully. The design team then provided the necessary deliverables to start each phase.