Repairs are coming to the Iowa Avenue pedestrian underpass this summer, months after it closed to the public.

The route allows residents and students to pass underneath the road near the intersection with Riverside Drive, where there is no crosswalk. It was closed in August 2023 after an inspection found the pathway approaching the underpass was deteriorating.

There also was significant cracking in the underpass, shown in photos posted on social media in the days leading up to the closure. The project will cost the city roughly $225,000.

More: Iowa Supreme Court rules for University of Iowa, reverses $12.8 million payment to contractor

The railings on the adjacent spiral walkway and on the nearby pedestrian bridge over Riverside Drive were set to be replaced, as well. However, delays in acquiring the needed steel would put that $1.25 million project outside of the summer timeframe.

The bridge is not structurally deficient and does not pose any risk to pedestrians using it or vehicles below, City Engineer Jason Havel said.

The university had asked the city to complete the work on the bridge during the summer as it receives heavy use from students and the community when school is in session.

Under a two-decade-long agreement between the city, the state Department of Transportation and UI, Iowa City and the university will each be responsible for 25% of the cost of the bridge work, or $312,500 apiece.

The project is expected to be bid later this year to provide additional time for a contractor to order the steel. Construction will then begin in summer 2025 and is slated for completion before the start of the 2025-26 academic year.

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.

For Cassandra Swacker, engineering is a way to help people.

Majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in biomedical engineering at Iowa State University equipped Swacker with the skills to design and manufacture personalized utensils and devices for people with traumatic brain injuries.

Her quest to help others through engineering began while she was in high school, when she saw how a prosthetic leg changed her father’s life. She’ll graduate at the end of this semester, which concluded this week, and her engineering quest will continue as she begins her career developing innovative solutions in technology and manufacturing.

“Biomedical engineers need to be involved in all those things to understand the biology and anatomy components of how machines interact with people,” Swacker said. “They also need to understand the design and manufacturing processes of those machines.”

Improving lives through engineering

Swacker, an Urbandale native, witnessed the power of biomedical engineering when her father was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that can affect the spine, knees, ankles and hips. The condition caused severe wear on her father’s ankle bones. He had metal plates implanted but eventually elected to have his leg amputated below the knee and replaced with a prosthetic.

The prosthetic improved her father’s mobility dramatically. Around the same time, Swacker took an engineering design course in high school, and she started thinking about how engineering affects people, including her father, in countless ways.

“My brain had that little lightbulb moment of, ‘oh, the people who are making prosthetics are engineers,” she said.

She discovered biomedical engineering, a fast-growing field that utilizes innovations in materials and technology to develop devices and equipment to enhance human and animal health.

“When he finally got his prosthetic and I was able to see just how big of an improvement it made for him, it was really inspiring and I wanted to be able to have that direct of an impact on peoples’ quality of life, which got me interested in the biomedical field,” Swacker said.

She enrolled at Iowa State because of the university’s strong engineering programs and proximity to family. She decided to major in mechanical engineering and pick up a minor in biomedical engineering.

Made-to-order medical devices

Swacker began her first year at Iowa State during in the fall of 2020, at a time when the pandemic forced most classes to be held remotely. The challenges of the pandemic taught her to work independently on her courses. They also helped her appreciate the classroom experience when in-person instruction resumed.

She landed an internship with Iowa State’s Center for Industrial Research and Service, which partners with business and communities across Iowa to develop tailored strategies to grow and prosper. In just the last five years, CIRAS and its partners have helped more than 4,600 businesses in every Iowa county, creating an economic impact of more than $3.1 billion.

Among the organizations helped by CIRAS is On With Life, an Ankeny-based rehabilitation clinic that helps patients recover from traumatic brain injuries and other neurological conditions. Swacker saw an opportunity with On With Life to apply what she was learning in her biomedical engineering courses.

Because brain injuries manifest a wide range of symptoms, On With Life’s patients often require personalized equipment and devices. 3D printing technology offers a way to create unique devices to precise specifications, so Swacker got to work familiarizing herself with the technology.

She custom-built eating utensils, such as plate covers and silverware handles, for patients whose injuries affected their fine motor skills. The adaptive plate cover she developed clips onto the top of a plate with strategically placed gaps that expose only a portion of the food. This helped a patient whose brain injury caused a compulsion to eat too fast to slow down to a healthier pace.

On With Life CEO Jean Shelton praised Swacker’s work.

“Brain injury rehabilitation calls for an individualized approach to services,” Shelton said. “No one brain injury is like another due to the many functional areas of the brain. We are grateful for Cassie’s work as she was able to address a very specific need through technology that aids an individual and their family to manage impulse control related to food. The plate she created allowed for a balanced meal approach without the visual distraction of the other foods on the plate. The plate is still in use!”

Swacker even developed an eye for aesthetics in her 3D printing designs. She learned one particular patient, who was a fan of Harley Davidson motorcycles, didn’t like the way some of the specialized eating utensils looked. So she designed one to resemble the handlebar of a motorcycle, complete with a flame finish. Many of her designs got rave reviews from the end users, she said.

Her work with CIRAS and On With Life taught her numerous lessons about engineering design, utilizing cutting edge technology and problem solving.

In the months ahead, Swacker said she plans to move to the Iowa City area to pursue a career in manufacturing engineering. She said she’ll apply all the lessons she learned studying at Iowa State and working for On With Life as she begins her career, lessons like never hesitating to ask questions and forging relationships with the people she’s working with.

Perhaps most importantly, she’ll launch her career with firsthand knowledge that good engineering can help people and change lives.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Television Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Iowa’s Area Education Agencies are racing to make changes before reforms passed by the legislature take effect on July 1.

Nothing will change with special education funding this year since AEAs will get to keep 100% of funds, but significant changes are coming with media services and education services this fall.

This upcoming school year will be a transition year for AEAs. In addition to special education, they provide resources like education services, such as literacy and math coaches, and media services to help with IT and technology. Beginning in July, districts will only be required to send 40% of their funds to AEAs for it.

Cindy Yelick is the chief administrator of the Heartland AEA in Central Iowa. Yelick says staff are leaving due to the overhaul. Heartland won’t fill roughly 50 open positions, which means parents may experience less flexibility with services. However, she says they’re working to preserve as much frontline staff as possible and parents shouldn’t be worried.

Dan Cox is the chief administrator with the Northwest AEA. He says about 10% of their staff, or roughly 30 employees are leaving. Cox says the departures have been spread across the AEA so impacts won’t be too severe. Cox too says there will be some noticeable changes to services. For example, That means parents may have access to six literacy coaches rather than eight.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office maintains employees who leave are doing so for personal reasons and not due to the legislation.

Both AEA chiefs say making changes has been incredibly difficult.

“There’s grieving because people have really invested in that equity of services across the state for years and thinking about how you now move into a different model so there’s some sadness. I would also say that there’s part of it that is a challenge that is invigorating to people,” Yelick said.

“It’s just the unknown and then the volume of support from the public that said ‘hey, no, stop, slow this down’ and then to have that just kind of you know brushed aside and changes made anyway was really tough to take for a lot of our staff too so they’ve been through the emotional grinder,” Cox said.

Cox says parents should continue to ask teachers and their school superintendents about how changes to services will look at their school.

Both administrators say next year will be even tougher. That’s when school districts won’t be required to use AEAs for those media and education services if they don’t want to.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.