From roads to rec centers, it’s tough work figuring out which infrastructure projects should be put ahead of others.
This story in the Pioneer Press chronicles the fickle fate of the proposed Lexington Parkway bike ramp to the Pierce Butler Route. That project is now on hold, and it will likely be completely de-funded to free up money to complete two bicycle boulevards at Jefferson and Griggs streets.
Money will also be taken from the Palace Rec Center remodel off West Seventh Street, though some city officials seem confident the remodel can still proceed as planned.
City officials say work has already begun on both Jefferson and Griggs, which are largely federally funded. In fact, they’ve received $1.4 million from the feds to complete the projects, and they’d be loathe to alienate the feds or miss any deadlines and lose that money.
So why are Jefferson and Griggs short cash? The Scoop reached out to the Dept. of Public Works, which broke the numbers down (see below). It appears some of the to-and-fro early on over the fate of the Jefferson project caused quite a bit of planning delay, and that’s been tough on the bottom line.
The Jefferson and Griggs projects were originally budgeted at a total of $1,520,000 ($1 million for Jefferson and $520,000 for Griggs)
· When the projects were sent out for bid for the first time in the fall of 2013, the estimates came back $970,000 over budget.
· The project was re-bid in the spring of 2014 and the estimates came back $900,000 over budget.
· The total needed to complete the project is $2.4 million.
o The Jefferson project budget was established in 2010. Due to the lengthy public process which ensued after the project was announced, it was four years before construction began. Lots of things can change in four years to cause the price of a project to increase – inflation costs, gas prices, asphalt prices, etc.
One clarification … the total amount of federal funding this project has received is $1.4 million.