A look inside the new Cedar Rapids Central Fire Station, currently under construction. Photos by The Gazette’s Liz Martin.

A group of adults in Williamsburg is testing a long-held adage: Ask and you shall receive. With the knowledge that the school board would not green-light a new competition gym for the Williamsburg Community School District’s combined junior-senior high school for another seven or eight years, these residents approached board members to see if they [...]

IOWA CITY – The Iowa City school district has started its campaign for a February vote that could give the district $100 million for construction projects. Superintendent Stephen Murley discussed the issue at a news conference Monday – the first time in at least the past several years that the district has had a news [...]

The personal income of Iowans rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent in the first three months of this year from the fourth quarter of 2011, mirroring the increase in personal income nationally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report released Wednesday. The quarterly change was sharply lower than the 3.1 percent recorded in [...]

Iowa may see one of its biggest years ever for state highway construction, driven by lower bids from contractors and higher-than-expected state and federal funding. Officials report that during an average season, about $460 million is spent on Iowa highways. This year’s spending could equal the record of $600 million set in 2009, when federal [...]

UPDATE: Construction is now planned to start this summer on two new city parking ramps in the downtown. Work on a 500-space ramp, across First Avenue East from the city’s Convention Complex and hotel, is expected to start first, with work on a second, 550-plus-space ramp, on Second Street SE between Sixth and Seventh avenues [...]

While the construction market in the Corridor was one of the safer places to be during the national building downturn, times haven’t exactly been easy in many areas of the industry. Although some in the field remain cautious, the outlook for private-sector construction during 2012 is for improved demand, according to construction sources. Richard Pankey, [...]

Publicly funded contruction projects in the Corridor are expected to keep contractors busy this year as other parts of Iowa and nation continue to struggle in a sputtering economy. At the northern end of the Corridor, Ryan Construction expects to complete the new $160 million U.S. Federal Courthouse at Eighth Avenue and First Street SE in [...]