The reconstruction of Warren Street/Roosevelt Drive from Webster Street to Park Avenue is now on the city of Beaver Dam’s to-do list.
The city’s operations committee added the $677,000 project to its five-year Capital Improvements Program Monday, linking a pair of projects already on the schedule.
This year, the city will be completely reconstructing Warren Street from South University Avenue to Webster Street as well as Stone Street from Roedl Court to South University Avenue at an estimated cost of $628,500.
With the Wisconsin Department of Transportation scheduled to replace Park Avenue from Monroe Street to University Avenue in 2013, city officials felt 2012 would be the perfect time to address the rugged conditions of Warren Street/Roosevelt Drive.
In addition to repairing a road in bad condition, the city hopes the improvement will help its efforts in lobbying for traffic lights at the intersection of Park Avenue and Roosevelt Drive.
Being a state highway, the state has the final say on the matter. When Walgreen’s first issued designs for a potential development at the southeast corner, the city demanded a traffic count be conducted to see if traffic lights were necessary.
The study reported traffic volume did not warrant lights at the intersection, making the city’s case with the state even more tenuous.
Although the operations committee approved the addition of the 2012 project, the full five-year CIP plan must be approved by the administrative committee before going before the full city council.
This year’s reconstruction project could begin as soon as mid May according to a timeline released by city engineering coordinator Ritchie Piltz.
The city is still hoping to receive state funding for the project as part of the Local Road Improvement Program. Each county has submitted a project for consideration, and the Warren Street project is Dodge County’s representative. The 72 nominated projects are each vying for a share of approximately $1.7 million in grant funding.
The city must wait to hear back from the state before advertising for bids, but Piltz said notification should come early enough to keep the city’s timeline on track.
A public hearing for abutting property owners who will be affected by special assessments has been tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, March 9 at 6 p.m. at city hall.
A contract could be awarded in early May, with construction scheduled for completion by Sept. 3.
Street conditions are always a topic of local conversation, and Alderperson Howard Abel asked Mayor Tom Kennedy if it was true the city would need to repave over two miles of street each year just to make up for the city’s neglect over the past several years.
Kennedy, while saying that he had never heard of such a figure and that any kind of comparison is completely subjective, said he his happy with the condition of the city’s streets.
“Certainly I look at our streets and they’re in very good shape,” Kennedy said. “As I’ve cited over and over and over, our main drags are in excellent shape, we’re doing very well there. It’s the residential streets, the ones we don’t drive on every day, that have been neglected. That’s why I’ve asked (Facilities Director Dave) Stoiser to prepare a five-year plan about doing (a certain) amount of streets every year.”