News from Mount Vernon: Fall 2018

Highway 30 bypass becoming a reality

Construction is well underway on a major bypass on Highway 30 that will route east-west traffic south of Mount Vernon by 2020. The project, with an estimated price tag of $105 million, is one segment of the state’s plan to make Highway 30 a four-lane divided highway across Iowa.

Local business and government leaders see the relocation as both a challenge and an opportunity. The highway, which carries more than 13,000 cars a day, will be farther from schools and will reduce congestion in town. The challenge is that traffic may do exactly what the name implies, bypass stores and restaurants in town.

Mount Vernon has assembled a group of residents to discuss how to handle the growth that will inevitably come when the bypass opens.

City Administrator Chris Nosbisch says the city will work to keep the downtown district a special place.

“The bypass area is going to create a new and different style of commercial district, but it’s imperative for us to make sure that we don’t allow the disconnect to remain,” he said. “The connectivity between downtown Mount Vernon and what’s going to occur out at the bypass has been our focus.”

Poet laureate status

Mount Vernon has staked a claim to being the smallest town in America with an official poet laureate.

The Mount Vernon City Council approved the appointment of Marianne Taylor as Mount Vernon’s inaugural poet laureate. Taylor, a former city council member, is a professor of English at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Cornell English Professor Glenn Freeman served on the selection committee.

A published poet, Taylor is the recipient of numerous literary awards for her writing and teaching. As poet laureate, she will write a poem for the annual Memorial Day ceremony, participate in the annual Heritage Days celebration, and present at least one public outreach activity.