Decorah council directs RFQ for full Hively Street redesign, signals preference for roundabout at River intersection

The Decorah City Council voted to issue a request for qualifications (RFQ) for outside engineering services to design the remainder of the Hively Street project to State Street and asked respondents to address multimodal transportation in project goals. Council members also instructed staff that the council’s current preference is for a roundabout at the Hively Street/River Street intersection, while allowing consultants to recommend otherwise.

Council members said hiring outside consultants would free in-house staff to manage other projects and allow the city to coordinate Hively Street construction with the planned new middle school construction. City staff told the council the full stretch would be difficult for internal staff to design in the calendar window needed to hit a desired bid schedule; an outside firm could deliver a 30% design early enough for meaningful review.