SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — As progress on the Gordon Drive Viaduct Project is moving forward, Siouxland businesses are already making decisions based on the project.

Lechner Lumber is located near the viaduct, but not for much longer. Pat Redmond with Lechner Lumber said the business will soon move to a new location and the viaduct project was one of the reasons.

“They put a median in the middle there that doesn’t allow northbound traffic to go north on Court Street, so you either got to go over the viaduct or make a u-turn,” he said. “So we got about 50 people a day making u-turns there.”

Dakin Schultz is the District 3 Transportation Planner for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). In 2021, the DOT enacted a corridor preservation zone on properties near the Gordon Drive viaduct, including Lechner Lumber.

This allows the DOT to have a say in property sales in a defined area.  

“In this case, the City of Sioux City, let’s say, receives a request for rezoning or request for a building permit that exceeds $25,000, we would be offered the opportunity to address those requests and take action on the property,” Schultz said.

Schultz said the DOT is looking at replacing the viaduct as well as the Bacon Creek conduit. He said feedback from Siouxlanders is critical to the project.

“We continue to get comments and questions from residents as well as local property owners in the area about where we’re at. So, we continue work on the development of the project, looking at how we can incorporate some of the comments we heard,” he said.

The DOT is working with a consultant to get the next phase of the project under contract and hoping to get more work done on the development this spring.