Eastbound cars and trucks can now come over the Karl King Viaduct on Second Avenue South, turn onto First Avenue South at the Sixth Street roundabout and keep on cruising all the way to 42nd Street, rolling through another roundabout at 12th Street along the way.

Westbound traffic can do the same thing in reverse.

The fact that traffic can move in both directions for the entire length of First Avenue South is one of the major changes created by the crosstown connector project. Previously, traffic was limited to westbound only in the downtown area.

”I fell in love with this project almost right away,” Mayor Matt Bemrich said. ”It just gave me a feeling that we could reinvent downtown.”

Dennis Plautz, the chief executive officer of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, has described the crosstown connector as ”the largest single thing the city could have done to expedite the improvement of downtown Fort Dodge.”

Work on the crosstown connector began in July 2014.

The Sixth Street roundabout, which links First and Second avenues south, opened in September 2015.

The 12th Street roundabout opened in the spring of 2016, completing the downtown portion of the project.

The crosstown connector project emerged from a 2008 masterplan for developing downtown that was written by Camiros, of Chicago, Illinois.

According to the plan, the crosstown connector would push more traffic closer to Central Avenue and the core of downtown. It would also reduce the size of the downtown by creating a new section of road that cuts across the current street grid on a curve to join First and Second avenues south at Sixth Street. Part of Second Avenue South was removed.

The first phase of the project focused on First Avenue South between Fourth and Ninth streets. It included the Sixth Street roundabout. Wicks Construction, of Decorah, had a $3,806,344.40 contract for that work.

Wicks Construction also had the contract to build the crosstown connector from Ninth to 12th streets, including the 12th Street roundabout. The company was paid $4,172,478 for that part of the job.

The quality of the work on the project was recognized by the Iowa Concrete Paving Association, which in January 2016 honored it as the best paving project in the urban arterials and collectors category.

During the 2016 construction season, crosstown connector work shifted from downtown to the eastern side of the city. There, the intersection of First Avenue South and 25th Street was rebuilt to create left and right turn lanes on each side of the intersection.

Also, First Avenue South was extended east from 32nd Street to 42nd Street to create the Decker Development Park, also called the Crosstown Connector Industrial Park.

This year, the focus will return to the downtown portion. Decorative elements that city planners call gateway features will be added to the centers of each roundabout.

A series of three tall metal banners affixed to poles will be placed at First Avenue South and Sixth Street.

A 32-foot tall clock tower will be positioned at First Avenue South and 12th Street.

”This summer we’ll see installation with completion this fall,” said Carissa Harvey, the senior city planner.