Valley Junction Streetscape - West Des Moines, Iowa 

This project is generally described as the removal and replacement of the brick pavers on each side of 5th Street from Railroad Avenue to Walnut Street in Valley Junction, West Des Moines, Iowa. This project included approximately 2315 SY of concrete pavers, 363 SY of PCC sidewalk, street lighting, signing, site furnishings, landscaping, construction survey, traffic control, and other miscellaneous work needed to complete the project. 

Historic Valley Junction, city of West Des Moines, with a population of 56,609, completed $1.6M (part of the city’s capital improvement budget) in streetscape improvements in 2020. The project scope included three blocks of Valley Junction’s main street, 5th Street. Work included new IT conduit, replacement of a band of brick pavers along the sidewalk (approximately 2.5 feet-wide) with a concrete base under them, new streetlights, replacement of street trees and new fence surrounds, and similar work in each of the four walkways that connect Historic Valley Junction Foundation’s main street to parking lots behind buildings.

The project was badly needed because the tops of the previous pavers were starting to cleave off due to frost-freeze, making them unsightly and creating a tripping hazard that was a significant problem.