ELKHART — The cost to build the Prairie Street overpass has gone down and the city is only $5 million away from the total needed before construction begins in 2014.

“We’re committed to it. It’s definitely becoming a reality,” Mayor Dick Moore said Thursday.

“We now can confirm that $20 million of the $25 million needed is now available to us,” Moore told city council members in an email recently. “The cost of the project has been downgraded from $35 million to $25 million.”

How the city will come up with the remaining $5 million is still a question.

“We have always known that the people of Elkhart would be expected to have a stake in this project by those jurisdictions granting the $20 million. The question is our best method of doing it. We are committed to moving forward on the project. It will benefit our entire community in many ways,” Moore said.

The city is considering funding options.

“We’re having discussions about that right now,” Moore said.

One strong possibility is to borrow the money from the city’s Major Moves fund, which has $8.3 million in it. The city borrowed money from the fund — with interest — to help pay for the Lerner Theatre renovations. That debt will be repaid this year, Moore said.

The mayor said it was “just as much of a shock to me as anybody” that the cost was $10 million less than original estimates. The economy and lack of construction work contributed to it, he said.

Engineering Services Manager Mike Machlan said as the project gets closer, you’re able to hone the design

“I think when it started, you estimate big and you start trying to accumulate funds. As you get closer, the design gets more and more detailed,” he said.

For example, the city now knows it will be an overpass, not a more expensive underpass.

“When it’s an overpass, you don’t have to do anything with the existing tracks,” Machlan said. “Most of those costs end up being costs to the railroad.”

With the Indiana Avenue underpass, the city had to pay Norfolk Southern to reroute trains during construction. Signals also needed to be upgraded.

Making it an overpass won’t change traffic. “It won’t be as pretty, but as far as the traffic is concerned, there’s no difference at all,” Machlan said.

Designers have added a separate foot bridge for pedestrian traffic instead of making the overpass itself wider, Machlan explained. That also saved money.

In addition, “as the design’s gotten closer, they’ve been able to narrow down land acquisition,” he said.

Because the city has to follow “long and tedious” federal and state processes, officials can’t begin to discuss land acquisition with those who are affected until after the May public hearing, Machlan said.

There will be an all-day, town hall-style public information meeting about the project Feb. 29 at St. Vincent dePaul Church. Machlan said the city hopes to gain more input from the Hispanic community. The area has a significant Hispanic population.

One of the steps the city has to take in the process has to do with what the federal government calls “environmental justice,” determining who will be affected by the project.

Input from State and Division streets residents led to widening the plan to make more of a bike way on Prairie Street, Machlan said.

After the public hearing, consultants can talk to property owners about land acquisition, a process that can take between six and 18 months, Machlan said, noting it is a “pretty involved and lengthy process.”

Then the federal and state governments will let the city bid out the project.

That’s when the money needs to be in-hand, he said.

Machlan said the city received $2 million for the project last year and has requested $3 million from the Michiana Area Council of Governments “and believe we will be getting that,” he said.

Norfolk Southern has to contribute to the physical structure as well, based on its right-of-way. “I think we estimate them to have about a million-dollar contribution as well, to bring up that $20 million,” Machlan said.

Moore said the overpass will be a big improvement to the entire area.

“There’s just so many benefits to having it,” Moore said, including less stopping at the railroad tracks, less exhaust fumes, no train whistles, another area for emergency vehicles to move across the tracks and a “great transportation avenue for those delivering goods around our city.”

View forums in a separate tab.

 

Classified Cafe

Featured Links