The city of Marion is prepping for two major street projects that should get underway this spring.

At last week's Thursday, January 21, Marion City Council meeting, the council approved bids for both the reconstruction of North 10th St. and the extension of 35th St., accepting Epworth-based Horsfield Construction's $1,731,454 bid for the 10th St. project and New Hampton-based Concrete Foundations' $1,397,389 bid for 35th St.

Both projects have a late start date of mid-April and are expected to be completed by year's end.

Concrete Foundations will extend 35th St. north to Lucore Rd., creating an intersection with Tower Terrace Rd. that will eventually become the center of a new neighborhood the city is developing plans for. When finished, 35th will be a divided two-lane road with a raised median, and the intersection is expected to share some of the same characteristics as Boyson Road's intersection with C Avenue in Cedar Rapids. Some of the types of businesses that could come to the area include video stores and dry cleaners, services that northeast Marion residents would no longer have to drive into the heart of Marion or Cedar Rapids to use.

The project bid also covers construction of a roundabout at the 35th and Tower Terrace intersection. It will have two lanes, to accommodate anticipated traffic growth in the area in the coming years.

North 10th St., meanwhile, will be resurfaced between Boyson Rd. and the future location of 10th Street's intersection with Tower Terrace Rd., which hasn't been built across Indian Creek yet. The new portion of 10th St. will also be a divided two-lane road, and the ditches on both sides of the street will be filled and replaced with city storm drains.

To allieviate traffic concerns caused by vehicles accessing Linn-Mar High School, located along the area being reconstructed, the project will be completed in phases, so that the work that would most affect the school will be done during the summer break. Assistant City Engineer Maryann Shinrock said that the stretch of 10th St. from Boyson Rd. to 29th Ave. will be completed first, and that access to the high school is expected to be maintained at all times.

The two projects are being paid for through the use of federal stimulus funds the city received for the road work last year.