Construction on Court Street between 7th Avenue and 4th Avenue began on Monday, March 9. It will be closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic until July of this year.
Due to closures blocking an entrance to the City High lower parking lot, extra parking will be available to students.
“We will have the gate open to Bates Field off of First Avenue for additional parking. Students may pull in from First Avenue and park at Bates Field,” Principal John Bacon said in an email to City High students and parents Monday. “This is a short walk up to the building and worth checking out as a parking option.”
The construction is part of the larger Court Street Reconstruction Project, which has been underway since February 2025. Previously, Court Street had been closed between Muscatine Avenue and 7th Avenue, and it temporarily reopened in January of this year.
Goals for the project include replacing street and sidewalk pavement, upgrading sanitary and storm sewers, and upgrading water utilities.
The closure affects students who drive and walk.
“I’m not a fan [of the traffic closure],” Margaret Cilek ‘29 said. “Court Street is the main street I use to get to school, so if they close the sidewalks, I don’t know how I’m going to get anywhere.”
Cilek walks to school every day. During the last construction period, pedestrian facilities were closed and removed, which made her commute difficult.
“For somebody who lives on the East Side, it’s frustrating to me that it is going to take so long and it will be more difficult to get downtown. But from what I’ve seen from the new section that I’ve already driven on, it’s going to be successful,” Lucas Iverson ’27 said.
Iverson believes that Court Street reconstruction is an essential infrastructure project to Iowa City because it’s a heavily used road that carries a lot of traffic to the East Side. He appreciates that the city is taking care of its older roads and bearing the old power lines in order to avoid outages and internet issues during heavy storms.
Court Street will reopen in July 2026, and the full Court Street Reconstruction Project is scheduled to be finished in Fall 2027.
