After years of planning, the construction of a massive flood mitigation project to elevate Dubuque Street and the building of a new Park Road bridge will finally begin.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the Iowa City City Council voted 7-0 to award a contract authorizing the mayor to sign, and the city clerk to attest, a contract for the construction of the Gateway Project.

The Gateway Project was initially supposed to begin construction after major flooding in Johnson County in 1993, but the city ultimately decided not to go through with the project, with officials thinking similar flooding was highly unlikely to happen again in the near future.

Then the 2008 flood happened, prompting the city to reconsider, and officials decided to go through with the Gateway Project.

Melissa Clow, the special administrator on the project, said the existing bridge would stay in place while the new one is being constructed.

“We would want to restore traffic fully by August 2018,” she said. “The bridge will be a two-year project.”

Peterson Contractors Inc. from Reinbeck, Iowa, was the company recommended by Public Works and Engineering to take on the ambitious project. The construction company’s bid is projected to save the city more than $10 million with an estimated cost of more than $40 million. A previous estimate put the price of the project at $52 million.

Others construction companies who gave submitted bids for the project were United Contractors Inc. from Johnston, Iowa, Ames Construction Inc. from Burnsville, Minnesota, and C.J Moyna & Sons Inc. from Cedar Rapids.

The Gateway Project is expected to take up the majority of the 2017 construction season.

– by Gage Miskimen