FHWA 06-11
Contact: Nancy Singer
Tel: 202-366-4650

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Federal Highway Deputy Administrator Greg Nadeau today joined local officials in breaking ground on the Historic Millwork District revitalization and street improvement project designed to help preserve the history of Dubuque, create an urban mixed-use neighborhood and attract and retain a quality workforce for Dubuque's growing economy.

"The Historic Millwork District Revitalization project will help create jobs in Dubuque today while laying the foundation for future economic growth," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "These are the kinds of investments that will help us win the future."

The project uses a "complete streets" approach that provides the infrastructure to allow people to safely move around their community outside of a car. This supports the community's vision of attracting more people to live and work in or near the center city while enticing businesses to relocate downtown. It includes reconstructing the street network in the Millwork District and the street connections to the central business district, Port of Dubuque, and the Washington Neighborhood. Washington Street, Jackson Street, Elm Street, and 8th, 9th and 10th Streets will be reconstructed.

The City of Dubuque's overall revitalization plan, which the transportation plans support, includes converting a historic warehouse into housing units and commercial space. The City of Dubuque estimates that 60 percent of the new residents in the Historic Millwork District will work downtown.

"The project will help jumpstart economic development in the Historic Millwork District, creating streets that are more accessible and safer for more users," said Deputy Administrator Nadeau.

The project received $5.6 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) program, designed to promote innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation projects that provide significant economic and environmental benefits to an entire metropolitan area, region or the nation.

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