An engineering firm will design road improvements to the U.S. 30 and CR 150W intersection, with the project potentially taking place in 2020.
The City of Warsaw Redevelopment Commission Monday afternoon approved a contract with A & Z Engineering LLC for $50,735 for professional engineering services related to the project. The work includes survey and field investigations, design engineering and construction documents, permits and assistance in the bidding phase.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner said, “It’s going to extend kind of on both sides of 30, depending on what transpires on the south side. Most of the improvements we’ve done have been on the north side of what is Silveus Crossing, north of U.S. 30 within our tech park and Ivy Tech, Medtronic. So there’s a lot of road improvements on that side but primarily what exists on the south side is still the original county road that’s been there for a long time.”
He said the city’s developments in that area are working and the traffic out in that area has increased.
“All of this has kind of brought forward some issues at that intersection, so we’re proposing that we contract with A & Z to review the design of that intersection and see what improvements we can make,” Skinner said.
It will have to be in conjunction with the state, which controls the intersection and traffic signals. “But there certainly will be some opportunities for some improvements to the efficiency and safety of that intersection, and that’s what this contract will do,” Skinner said.
He said the engineering will be worked on this year and be prepared as a project for next year, assuming everything works out between the engineering and state.
Skinner said there is no cost estimate yet for the CR 150W intersection project. That will be done as part of the engineering.
“Right now this is the project we’re targeting for next year,” he said.
Councilman and Commission member Mike Klondaris asked if they’ve used the A & Z firm before. Skinner said yes, including the Husky Trail project, the boardwalk behind Kosciusko Community Hospital and phase I of the Market Street project.
Skinner also told the commission that Michiana Area Council Of Governments will do some traffic counts that A & Z will use as part of its design and engineering to figure out which way traffic is moving. He said traffic counts were done a year ago when the gas station was going in on the south side of the intersection.
“So we have a fairly good idea of what’s going on there, but obviously we want to keep track of the changes and that will all be processed into the design,” Skinner said.
Later in the meeting, Mayor Joe Thallemer asked if the project would go out into the state’s right of way, if the state would work with the city on it and if the city would fund that project up to the state’s portion.
Skinner replied that the city would have to fund it entirely.
“Now, the timing might work out because they have a resurface project, I think, in 2020. ... I think they’re going from State Road 19 all the way to Center Street. So if we can get our ducks in a row, we may tie in nicely to their resurfacing, assuming we can all figure out what’s best and agree and the state would issue the permits we might need. I think it might work out to our advantage,” Skinner said.
The commission later approved a base bid of $605,363 from Phend & Brown Inc. for the North Pointe Drive project. City Engineer James Emans’ estimate for the total project was $586,280.50, but Phend & Brown was the sole bidder on the project.
Skinner said the city submitted the project to the state for Community Crossings funding, which was approved. The state will pay 50% of the street project.
He said he met with Warsaw Street Superintendent Jeff Beeler about six months ago to talk about projects and Skinner asked Beeler if North Pointe Drive was a road on his project list. Beeler said yes.
At the same time, Skinner said he had been approached by numerous residents about sidewalks and children having to walk on the road to get to school.
Beeler and Skinner decided to couple the road project with some sidewalk improvement projects. Community Crossings is paying 50% (about $211,000) of the road project, but not the sidewalk portion because there’s no sidewalks there to be improved. The street department will pay about $150,000 toward the road, with the Redevelopment Commission contributing the remaining portion of the $605,363 for the sidewalk and some road improvements.
Skinner recommended the bid be awarded to Phend & Brown, noting that since it’s receiving Community Crossings funding there is a short window to execute the projects.
“If we don’t award it, we’ll lose the funding to do this project,” Skinner said.
“... In the end, we’re going to get a great project that is going to have sidewalks, that is going to run all the way from the school to the YMCA. The kids won’t have to walk in the street. It’ll be safe and the road will get reconstructed.”
During the last part of the meeting, the Commission reviewed budgets for 2020. It will be asked to approve them at its July meeting.
The commission also approved:
• An extension of the transfer of city property at 805 E. Market St. for a senior housing project to Housing Directions LLC from May 17 to Dec. 31.
Skinner said the original agreement on the senior housing project was based on the application to the state for funding, which was awarded earlier this year. The property transfer also was a part of that agreement.
“It has more to do about getting all their ducks in a row and the financing than it does about the project itself,” Skinner said.
Housing Directions hopes to start the project this year.
• A “no pass thru” statement. The statement from the commission notifies the county auditor and all overlapping taxing units that the commission has determined there is no “excess assessed value” that may be allocated to the overlapping taxing units. The statement is made annually.
