Just under a year after the city of Davenport converted 3rd Street downtown from one-way eastbound, to two-way traffic, the city is completing a similar conversion for westbound 4th Street to two-way, effective Thursday, Oct. 29.
Downtown 3rd Street (from Marquette to East River Drive) became two-way, with a middle turn lane, last Nov. 6, 2025. Clay Merritt, city of Davenport director of engineering and capital projects, explained the changes Tuesday at the Public Works Department.
The city has been restriping 4th Street from East River Drive to Harrison Street, so now the north (or westbound) lane is open, with a turn lane in the middle, and the city is finishing conversion for the south (or eastbound) lane, to be fully two-way at 6 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29. The re-striping for that stretch has been done in stages, so at least one lane has stayed open at all times.
On Wednesday, the city will have flashing red lights along 4th at River Drive, Brady, Main and Harrison streets, and motorists should treat them as four-way stops, before they become regular signals Thursday morning.
“That signal will start flashing red as kind of a visual cue to people that something's changing,” Merritt said. “Part of the reason for that though is for us to actually get in there into the traffic controller, like into the controller systems and start working them. One of the things we kind of know, but back to how big 3rd Street was in terms of the length of that project, we had to have people at each intersection trying to re-sequence those, trying to work on those on the fly.
"Having them flashing red allows us to have— the day before— allows us to have either our contractor or our staff there to make sure that we're keying these things correctly so that when we do flip to live traffic, they're working straight away.”
A new all-way stop will be installed at 4th and LeClaire by Thursday. As part of the two-way conversion, key crosswalks throughout the corridor are being refreshed to align with the new traffic pattern. The improvements enhance visibility for both drivers and pedestrians, making it safer and more intuitive to navigate downtown on foot.
When the change goes live, drivers may notice the traffic signals are not synchronized. City staff will work to optimize signal timing based on traffic flow in the coming months.
People who signed up to receive weekly street closure alerts will receive a message on Wednesday night as a reminder of the conversion on Oct. 29.
You can sign up for alerts at www.davenportiowa.com/alertiowa. And lighted message boards will be placed along the 4th Street corridor.
On the day of the conversion:
- Police will be present at key intersections.
- Lights will change from flashing to regular operation.
- Bags will be lifted from new signage.
- Notice will be released on the city’s and public works’ social media pages.
- The best thing drivers can do is to slow down and follow the new signage and traffic markings.
What changes?
- Two-way travel.
- The addition of a dedicated turning lane.
- A few minor modifications to loading zones. Ample parking remains available.
- Traffic signal and sign changes:
New four-way stops, not lights
“What you will see that look like as we go forward, as you kind of enter into the new ones, there's three intersections that once had signals that no longer have it,” Merritt said of new four-way stop signs along 4th at Pershing, Iowa and Warren. “We want to tell people to encourage— watch your signage. This is going to be kind of a new thing for everyone, at least on 4th, kind of how everyone was doing on 3rd.”
“Make sure you're aware of where those stop signs are from where there was once signals, as well as at our signalized intersections,” he said. “We will have police presence, so at some key intersections, for instance, at Brady Street, at Harrison Street, and at River Drive. They'll be just there in case there's some confusion along the way and they kind of need to help people move through. It's the same process we followed on 3rd Street, and that worked fairly successfully.”
The city resurfacing work on 4th west of Harrison is ongoing, Merritt noted. On Wednesday, the contractor will start milling off the south end of the roadway, to Telegraph Road, over two days and then put some base patching and an asphalt overlay on the road, he said.
“They'll then stripe that, and then once it's ready to go, we'll then open that section up, specifically Harrison to Marquette,” he said, noting that will be two-way by mid-to-late November, and then Marquette west to Telegraph will be re-striped in its typical one-way (westbound) configuration. That project will be completed by the end of November. The costs of the 3rd and 4th Street work are:
- 3rd & 4th Street reconstruction: $10.6 million
- Two-way conversion: $2.9 million ($700,000 from Downtown Davenport Partnership)
- 3rd & 4th Marquette traffic signal project: $300,000
Merritt said having 3rd Street done last year helped in the transition on 4th, if only as a means to divert traffic.
“I actually believe that the conversion on 3rd Street actually helped with traffic along the way,” he said. “Since we've had a substantial amount of 4th Street under construction in some form or another, having a secondary roadway, a block over where people can easily get to and from, I think that substantially helped construction in terms of traffic flow.”
“When we did 3rd, we waited until we did the entire length of the conversion. So River Drive to Marquette, we did that all in one go,” Merritt said Tuesday, noting they did not have to close the street. “We do all this under live traffic, which we've called other municipalities before we did Third Street to try and see what lessons learned they had. And they were all kind of shocked that we were doing, one, a stretch this big, and two, we were doing it under live traffic. Most communities actually shut that whole roadway down.
“But we like to make sure people can still keep moving, commerce can still happen,” he said. “So we actually learned in about a day and a half to 2 days is what we had for striping and signage. That was a lot. And so doing it in a shorter section, and in this instance it actually worked out well with our construction project -- it somewhat coincided with one another.”
The Downtown Davenport Partnership has been a major supporter for the two-way conversions, and say many businesses have supported them, he noted.
“I think so far same for Fourth Street. I think people are just, as with all of our projects throughout our community, they're looking for us to get them wrapped up and get completed,” Merritt said. “Construction is often an inconvenience for folks, and so the faster we can get that done, the more people can kind of go back to using the roadways the way they normally use them rather than having to drive through construction zones.
"I think that's probably the most question is, is specifically Harrison to Telegraph, when are you going to get done? But I would say that's not unique amongst any of our construction projects. Honestly, we get more questions about, I would say, Eastern Avenue Bridge over Duck Creek. It's probably generated the most questions throughout the construction year.”
New traffic light at Scott St.
A new traffic light will be activated at 4th and Scott Street. That installation has been delayed due to a redesign, and a four-way stop will be put up until the signal equipment can be installed in the coming months. Merritt said that’s needed for the Central Fire Station there.
“They're turning— as they have to then turn into traffic, we want to make sure that when our fire department needs to respond, they have something that's activated,” he said. “So when they roll out of the station, the light will turn red. So they're not inhibited by traffic of any kind. We have that in other areas of the city as well.”
Last year’s fall conversion of 3rd was smooth, and the city expects the same with 4th, especially given that experience.
“There was not much confusion with 3rd from my recollection. I expect there to be less with 4th,” Merritt said. “I think people are becoming more accustomed. Third kind of took the brunt of the newness factor, if you will. But I think 4th will be a little bit more easier. It's a smaller stretch of roadway, and I think people are kind of understanding that it's coming.”
The resurfacing from Harrison to Telegraph should be complete by the end of the construction season, with the exception of the intersection at Division and 4th Street.
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