BICKNELL — With just two months left in the year, city officials here are drawing up a list of infrastructure projects to tackle as the New Year arrives.
In September, the city learned that it would receive $408,975 from the state through the grant program, just a smidgen more than the $400,000 it requested.
The city's total application will amount to about $570,000 with the 25-percent local match.
The money will be put toward paving as well as the installation of Americans with Disabilities Act-complaint curb ramps on nine streets, including Martha from Second to Sixth; Norman from White River Avenue to East Fourth; West Second from Main to Division; and West Eighth from Main to St. Clair.
The paving project will start in the spring and will be completed by Bloomington-based Milestone Contractors.
Around the same time, Estabrook noted, other, smaller projects will start. He's asked city engineer John Sprague to put together a detailed package for the sidewalk repairs along North Main Street, work that will be financed at least in part through a $30,000 allocation included in the 2018 budget.
The money would be put toward taking out sets of steps and installing ADA-complaint ramps, though how far that $30,000 will go remains to be seen.
“My hope is that we can get some of the worst sections addressed and the worst corners made ADA-compliant so we can get those roads paved at a later date,” Estabrook said. “That will set us up for some other paving on some other side streets that we wouldn't otherwise have been able to do.”
Another project that will soon be addressed, the mayor said, lies beneath the city streets.
Officials had hoped to get the paving done on Norman Street, which will be covered with Community Crossings money, before this year ends. To prepare for the paving, water department superintendent Earl Horst got started on water mains work in the area.
As it turns out, Milestone won't be able to squeeze Norman Street in this year, but there will still be some infrastructure repair work done in the area anyway.
“We've found that a water main that runs two blocks south of that road is getting ready to come apart,” Estabrook said. “Most likely we will replace two blocks of that line before we pave the road.
“That's something we're hoping to complete before the year is over and we may need a special Board of Works meeting for that.”
A few other stormwater- and drainage-related issues have surfaced in recent weeks that will also need to be addressed.
Sinkholes have developed in areas where sections of concrete pipe have started to fail, causing the ground to collapse, Estabrook said. Those trouble spots will be addressed by removing the old concrete pipes and replacing them with plastic.
City officials are also teaming up with the parks department to resurface and reconstruct the walking track at South Side Park. They'll put quotes together this winter and hopefully tackle the job next year.
The cost is estimated to cost around $40,000, Estabrook said, but he hopes to get some financial support from private organizations to ease the burden.
“Naturally, the city is going to pick up the vast majority of the cost, but if we can get some other private organizations to put some funding in for it, that would be great,” he said.
From what Estabrook can understand, he added, this project will be the first major reconstruction since the walking track was installed in the late 1980s and early '90s.
With the addition of new playground equipment near the track, city officials see the track facelift as a way to make the park more attractive for community use.
“We've really tried to go full-force to make that a place where people want to go and exercise and hang out,” Estabrook said. “It's going to be money-dependent, but we definitely want to do it and I know there's support in the community.”
On top of the street work and park projects, the painting of the water tower is also on the to-do list.
Needless to say, Estabrook noted, there will be a lot going on within Bicknell once spring rolls around.
“We'll be tearing up quite a bit in the city and I just encourage folks to be patient,” he said. “A lot of it has been overdue but we're fortunate that we've been able to obtain the money.”