Lincoln Aldermen to vote on road repair project for South Kickapoo Street

 

[May 20, 2019] 

At the Monday night voting session of the Lincoln City Council, aldermen will consider spending approximately $188,000 of its $500,000 annual budget for street repairs on two blocks of South Kickapoo Street. This would be the less expensive option for the street with option two coming in at approximately $450,000.

Both options were introduced to the council at the Tuesday, May 14th, Committee of the Whole meeting by Street Superintendent Walt Landers.

Landers presented the project cost estimates from Farnsworth Group on the two options:

- Option one would be for a mill and overlay project for the two blocks from Clinton Street to Wyatt Avenue. The project would include some grinding down of the existing road and then a new overlay of asphalt.

- Option two, would be to tear the road out completely and reconstruct it using concrete to match the surface south of Wyatt Avenue. Landers noted that the decision was the will of the council, but there were definite advantages to going with the higher priced option.

He noted that there is need for restructuring of the road including curb and gutter that would address drainage issues in the area. He also noted that the concrete Kickapoo Street south of Wyatt had been done about 25 years ago and was still in good repair. He said the asphalt version would not properly address the drainage or the curb and guttering issues, and the life span of an asphalt road was about 15 years.

The first alderman to speak on the topic was Kevin Bateman. He noted that the work estimates were coming from Farnsworth and said that gave him pause. He wondered if the city had a contract with Farnsworth or did it have the option to seek other engineers. He said that he felt it was time the city should take bids for engineers and added that he has lost trust in Farnsworth based on what he has heard in the chamber gallery attending meetings for the last two years.

Ron Keller said that he understood the longevity of the higher priced option, but he was having a hard time sacrificing what amounted to the better part of this year’s budget for a two block area, omitting possible work to be done on other streets in town. Keller also asked about the PAVER rating on the two block area.

The Pavement Management Assessment and Modeling System (PAVER) is a grading system that was implemented by the city in 2016-17. The system includes software that records evaluations of the individual streets within the city and assigns a condition number using what is termed as the Pavement Condition Index (PCI).

Using the PCI, the software then gives priority to certain streets in town based on the grade given through ‘boots on the ground’ evaluations. Those evaluations were done in 2017 by Farnworth Group and city employees.

Landers said that this section of South Kickapoo had been graded on a scale of one to 10, and received a three on one block, and a nine on the other block, meaning that the road was at the very end of its life. Because of the extremely low rating Landers concluded that something did need to be done with this street sooner rather than later.

Bateman said he agreed with Keller that he would be hard pressed to support spending what is practically the entire street budget on one street. He added to that that if past history repeats itself, the city can count on the actual cost of the street coming in considerably higher than Farnsworth’s estimates. He surmised that the $450,000 could easily become $500,000.

Tracy Welch and Bateman both spoke about doing what is fair and equitable for the four wards of the city. Welch said that he had spoken with Lincoln Treasurer Chuck Conzo as well as Landers about the situation and Welch believed that the $500,000 should be divided amongst all four wards. He said he felt that it was in the best interest of all constituents to do some work in every ward.

Jeff Hoinacki said that he would take the other side of the argument. The area in question has curb and gutter work that needs done and drainage issues that should be addressed. He said that with the asphalt plan, none of that would be done.

Hoinacki also noted that there is a half-million dollars going into a bridge replacement on Jefferson Street in this year’s budget. He said there would be no such plan in the 2020-21 Budget, so then there would be a possibility of more money for street repairs in the other wards.

Bateman wondered if there were perhaps a third option that would include doing additional work to address the drainage but still going with the less expensive mill and overlay.

Steve Parrot said he too was in favor of spreading the money across all four wards. At the same time, he was giving thought to what would be left in the budget. With only about $300,000 left to spread across the other three wards, how much could actually be accomplished.

Bateman said that there were some projects within the city that could be done for as little as $30,000, so he felt like the remaining $300,000 could have a significant impact.

Landers was asked about other streets. He said that yes there was a variety of work that needed to be done throughout the city. Some was as simple as oil and chip or hot mix asphalt. Based on the PAVER, the two locations in town with the worst issues are this section of South Kickapoo and also Heitman Drive on the city’s west side.

Landers also advised the council that there will be water main work done by Illinois American Water this year. In the past that company has paid for subsequent road repairs. This year, the company will reimburse the city $7 per square yard for damages to the streets. That would equate to cash for the city that would provide the city the option of deciding how to address the individual streets impacted by the water company, whereas in the past the water company has had input on how the street is repaired; now it will not.

Landers also commented on the questions about Farnsworth. He said that Farnsworth has completed the work needed for South Kickapoo, so to back out with them and start over new would result in a delay in getting the project done this year. He was not in favor of starting over with the South Kickapoo engineering, but added that after the season is over the city could do “Request for Quotes’ from other engineering firms for future projects.

Welch commented again in favor of the less costly option. He noted that one of the comments made earlier had referred to the asphalt solution as a Band-Aid on the problem. However, Welch didn’t agree. He said a Band-Aid was not a fix with a 15 year life span. He added that he has not heard anyone comment about drainage issues along that two block area until this discussion.

Welch concluded that his desire was to see the budget spread across all four wards. To that end, he said he would ask that the item on the agenda for Monday night be option one - $188,000 for mill and overlay.

Keller agreed with Welch and also added that he agreed with Landers that the city should not jeopardize the timeline of this project by rebidding the engineers. He said the engineering issue could and should be addressed after the road repair season.

As the discussion came to an end, Landers said that he would appreciate the input of the aldermen on which streets in their wards would be addressed this season. Welch asked if the PAVER report could be divided by ward so that aldermen could see the individual grades of their constituent streets. Landers will provide that information to the aldermen.

[Nila Smith]