By Beacon Staff
The Burlington City Council reviewed its multi-year road plan during a work session Monday,Oct. 25, and there’s plenty of work to be done.
Featured on the list is the closed Cascade Bridge, which is currently budgeted for about$7 million. Assistant city manager for public works Nick MacGregor said that is very rough figure, noting that inflation on construction materials has risen by 5.5 percent over the course of the pandemic.
Replacing the Cascade Bridge is positioned as the only roads project in fiscal year 2025 – the final year of the plan.
“I think this project is probably the biggest concern, from what happens with estimation and inflation and how you plan for this bridge. This is complicated work, and we don’t know how inflation will affect it,” MacGregor said.
The city has secured $1 million in state bridge fund money, but the price will likely be higher than $7 million.
“We need to be on the lookout for federal aid monies,” MacGregor said.
TIGER grant reconstruction of Main and Jefferson Street will be ongoing from 2022 to 2025. Work has already begun on the 800 block of Jefferson Street.
The rest of the road plan breaks down as follows:
Fiscal Year 2022
The work will consist of reconstruction of Madison Avenue. There will be bike lines from South Street to Sunset Avenue, ADA ramps will be replaced, and there will be minor storm intake work and minor sewer separation near the Harrison Avenue project.
“Harrison Avenue will not be completed this fall,” MacGregor said. “It will continue next spring, and there is quite a bit of work left on the table. If they start April 1, it will take all the way until at least July 1 to get that done.”
Fiscal Year 2023
Road work includes Agency Street, from Melrose to Curan; Terrace Avenue; Johannsen Drive; and Division Street, from Plane to Leebrick.
The work will consist of a full depth concrete reconstruction and sidewalk network continuation on Agency, as well as ADA upgrades. The work on Terrace, Johannsen, and Division Street will be an HMA (hot mix asphalt) overlay.
Fiscal Year 2024
The scope of the project will consist of reconstruction of Summer Street, from Harrison to Koestner, and the widening of the entire width of the street. The current road is 22 feet wide with no shoulder – the new street will be 31 feet wide with a curb and gutter.
There will also be work done on the Washington Central Overpass to Front Street. Originally planned as an HMA overlay, the budget currently has provisions for full depth replacement from Front Street to Sixth Street at the base of Snake Alley. The rest would be an HMA overlay from Sixth Street to the Central Avenue overpass.
MacGregor also provided the council a list of roads that will need work in fiscal year 2025 and beyond. The list includes: Sunnyside Avenue, Lesylvia, Sunrise, Regina, Monarch, Glendale, Stone Garden, Deer Run, 800 block of Easy Street, Sixth Street and Fifth Street from Spruce to Cedar, frontage roads (especially off of West Avenue near Two Rivers), asphalt roads that need overlay or reconstruct, Barrett from Summer to 14th, Barrett from Seventh to Main, Twelfth from Barrett to Angular, Main From Harrison to Cascade Bridge, Louisa Street from Madison to Seventh, and Fleming Court south of Flint Hills.