Saturday, September 25, 2010
 
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County eagle-eyes rural segment of Fifth Street Road

Other future projects to the south could hinder rural travel

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[September 25, 2010]  Multimillion-dollar projects that have no funding are hard to get started. Such has been the challenge for Logan County and city of Lincoln officials in the renovation of Fifth Street Road. Funding for the 10-mile stretch of roadway has eluded officials’ best efforts since the mid-1990s. However, prospects that would launch its construction may be getting closer.

The blacktop serves as a primary artery into the city of Lincoln for rural residents and businesses located to the south and west. It is heavily traveled between Lincoln and Middletown and funnels traffic to Interstate 55. Its renovation has been identified by city and county officials as a top priority necessary for the expansion of business and development of new residential areas.

The project has been divided into two segments, urban and rural. Logan County highway engineer Bret Aukamp now hopes to seize an opportunity that if done right, could get the rural stretch of the road project moving.

A new wind farm intending to construct in that area is entering its final planning stages. Due to the use of heavy equipment over the roadways during the construction period, by agreement, the wind farm would supply fees for roads.

"With Sugar Creek Wind One as a potential funding partner, the county hopes to take the next step toward reconstructing the rural portion of Fifth Street Road," Aukamp said.

Exterminator

West of I-55 is the rural section. Right now West Lincoln and Sheridan townships have jurisdiction over the roadway. They are both active partners in the development of the road use agreement with Sugar Creek Wind One. Because the roadway is intended to become a county highway once it is built to current standards, Logan County is funding the engineering for the project.

While small amounts of funding have come through that allowed for design and planning, and some preparatory construction, the full project has remained out of reach.

"This is a very large project, and we have been trying to move it further along with any funding we can find," Aukamp said.

At present, plans for Sugar Creek Wind One show that it would involve 6.25 miles of Fifth Street Road: all the way from 700th Avenue, the quarry road, west to 100th Avenue, the New Holland-Middletown road.

"Everything between these two points is going to get affected by this wind farm," Aukamp said.

Aukamp's recommendation to the country’s road and bridge committee was to reinforce the existing roadway as needed and keep it on its current alignment during the wind farm's construction phase. Then, after the wind farm's construction is complete, reconstruct the roadway on the new alignment, with wider pavement, shoulders and ditches.

He felt that the road could be kept in use by adding rock and widening it and "let it get tore up" by the heavy trucks that would be coming in. So, we need to spend some money on that road to get everything ready and make sure it can handle that increased construction traffic. He estimated it would need rock 8-15 inches deep added to the sides of the road and that the road would need regular work to support the wind farm trucks.

The roadway would also need to be maintained in a safe and travelable condition for public use. Aukamp expects that the costs to keep the road up would be $160,000.

There is work that should be started now. Back in 2000, the engineering design was initiated with Hanson's Professional Services of Springfield on the westernmost five miles of the project, between 100th Avenue and 600th Avenue. Those roads are both county highways that created logical endpoints for the first part of the project.

However, currently the wind farm would affect Fifth Street Road between 100th Avenue and 700th Avenue.

Aukamp suggested that now is the time to get all the design plans updated and plans created for the additional 1.25-mile stretch between 600th Avenue and 700th Avenue "so we can have a project ready to construct as soon as the private wind developer has finished using the road for their construction project."

Additionally, "By determining the proposed right-of-way now, we hope to avoid the conflicts with utility easements since the wind farm will need to be installing electric cables throughout the project," Aukamp said.

He would also like to begin acquiring rights of way that would be needed.

"I'd like to get all that done, have it ready to go as soon as the wind farm gets done," he said.

The wind farm is expecting to complete construction in 2012.

In summary:

  • Preliminary design plans need to be done on the western portion of Fifth Street, between 600 and 700 avenues.

  • All other design plans are done, but would need updating

  • Rights of way need to be secured.

  • Plans need to be made to shore up the roadway for heavy truck travel. Between 8 and 15 inches of rock would need to be added.

The city is not involved with the rural section of the project but has also been focusing hard all this year on the urban segment. As Lincoln has expanded westward, its portion of the urban segment has increased to 80 percent and contains some of the more expansive work of multiple lanes. The urban stretch between Lincoln Parkway and I-55 is mostly city. The road is under city jurisdiction from Lincoln Parkway to Connolley Road (Sysco's location), then a short segment is under the county. New funding sources have been identified and applications have been submitted. (See links below article.)

In other county road news, the County Highway 10 project from Elkhart to Mount Pulaski is nearly done. It was the first concrete overlay in the state's District 6. It turned out so well that Aukamp was asked to submit it for the Project of the Year program hosted by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

"I was honored by the district for thinking it was worthy," he said.

As an example of novel material use and construction, others would be watching to see how it holds up.

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Aukamp also has been applying for grants: $14.6 million for Fifth Street Road and $1.5 million for a major bridge program. He would also keep watch on the reauthorization when the federal transportation bill comes out.

In other transportation news, Aukamp said that with the high-speed rail that will be passing through Logan County and Lincoln, there will be some specialized construction that would tie up several miles of crossings at one time.

He has sent letters requesting priority limited-time closure at the 600th Street crossing, which goes to the coal mine, and at the prison crossing. He hopes the requests would be honored that could hold closing times down to three days.

The temporary closures are expected in November or December, when, hopefully, most of our farming traffic will be done, he said. He recognizes that to have the Elkhart, Broadwell and Fogarty crossings closed at the same time would be a problem.

"It is definitely going to get complicated to all of us trying to travel back and forth across those tracks," he said.

Kevin Bateman commented that new rail sections are each about 1,000 feet long.

On another interrelated topic, the new portal where coal exits Viper Mine is now located south of the county line. As such Logan County no longer receives taxes from that business. Yet, the raw coal is being trucked back into the county to the Elkhart facility for processing. That's 700 loaded trucks a day going one direction on Logan County roads.

Initially, that project called for an overhead conveyor to move the coal, but no funds were found for it, and it has now been deemed too expensive.

The trucks not only damage roads, but pose a hazard to the general public traveling to work and for school buses that use the same route.

Additionally, coal trucks would be crossing the railway tracks on both ends, coming and going, which results in 2,800 potential conflicts each day.

Another option that the mine could consider is to build a connecting roadway that would stay to the east side of the rail line.

Also in the future affecting travel to the south is the replacement of the Lincoln Parkway bridge over Salt Creek. This is a state project and the state has all the say in when and how it is done.

Aukamp had seen plans and said that one set would take the curve out of the bridge. If the state would pursue this design, it would likely result in a full closure that could take a year or more. A staged closure would keep lanes open but would cause construction to take longer and cost the state more. Aukamp said he would try to keep tabs with what the state plans and let the committee know what he finds out.

[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]

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