The City of Rushford received a Preliminary Engineering Report for Highway 30 Reconstruction Project at the September 14 council meeting. City Engineer Derek Olinger, from Bolton & Menk, was present to discuss the report, one of many steps to getting the 2022 project underway. Despite being more than 18 months until the proposed start of construction, there are countless hoops the city must go through for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) led project. “It’s the first major step in a multi-step process,” noted Olinger.
Still in the preliminary geometric layout phase, engineers are determining the scope of street and utility improvements, as well as preparing for assessments for affected properties. The project is slated to run from the intersection of Highway 30/West Jessie Street and Highway 43/Mill Street, west down Jessie Street, joining Stevens Avenue, and ending roughly 300-feet past Southview Court. It includes both commercial downtown and residential areas. Included in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan for street and utility projects. “In an effort to maintain city infrastructure, it was first identified in detail in 2015,” added Olinger, suggesting the larger vision for plans make the current project more understandable to the public.
Existing conditions in the area range widely in street width, parking capacity, sidewalk availability, and accessibility. It’s the last piece that’s a considerable push for the project as MnDOT attempts to bring the roadway up to current design standards, including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA compliance). While the road surface is being addressed, underground watermain, sanitary sewer and storm sewer service is being updated. In addition, there are specific curb and gutter and streetlight components as well. Plans include varying street width from 34’-48’, with parking on both sides, with the exception of no/limited south lane at the west end of Stevens Avenue.
Olinger clarified several design challenges with the project including widths and cross slopes of downtown areas, noting they were well outside the parameters of acceptable slopes. “I know for a fact that we won’t be able to address each of these areas, but we will make them as user-friendly as possible.” In the residential portion, steep boulevards and driveway slopes, as well as impacts from existing retaining walls are being addressed. “Our design goal is to keep it as flat as possible. What we try to do in these areas is try to meet slope requirements, but not make it any worse than it is. That’s a part of the project.”
Underground watermain in the area is brittle and corroded cast iron pipe installed between 1950 and 1970. Additionally, it was installed offset from the storm sewer in the curb line and services can see freezing issues due to improper depth. What’s proposed is a 10-inch PVC pipe with one-inch plastic or polyethylene services to or near the property lines, new shut off valves, mainline gate valves, and hydrants, plus additional hydrants to maintain less than 500-foot distance spacing. The upsizing of the main to 10 inches will provide sufficient service to the area and potential western development that may come in the future. “Even with existing conditions and long dead-end line, providing it is a good idea and I would recommend it,” added Olinger.
Current sanitary sewer conditions are problematic with some pipes unlined or incorrectly lined, unsealed service connections, and long segments between manholes. The mainline area between Mill Street and Elm Street along Jessie Street was replaced in 1996 and will not need any further upgrade. The remainder of the sewer, however, will be upsized from six-inch clay/concrete pipe to eight-inch PVC pipe. Reinforced concrete manholes, four to six-inch service lines to property will aid in creating a more watertight system. “We’re trying to control the amount of rainwater and groundwater. One of the most common infiltration into sanitary sewer service is the connection of illegal sump pumps,” cautioned Olinger. Through this project, permanent underground sump sump connections can be routed from the property out for every house adjacent to the street.
Storm sewer conditions do not currently meet design standards with the number of inlets and size and type of the pipe, in addition to several deteriorating structures. What’s proposed is an increased main pipe size and number of inlets, in effort to meet standards for a 5-year rainfall event, equivalent to a 3.8-inch rain.
Sidewalks currently extend on both sides of the roadway, ending at 501 West Stevens on the north side and 404 West Stevens on the south. Within the downtown area, the widths vary from six to 10 feet.The project calls for sidewalks to extend to the intersection of Bluffview Road on the north side, where steep slopes make continuing the sidewalk next to impossible without the addition of costly retaining wall, and to the Southview Court intersection on the south side. Downtown, proposed bump outs on the corners at the intersection of West Jessie Street and Elm Street will be in the MnDOT layout until and if Bolton & Menk can prove the city can meet ADA-compliance without them. “Revisions always happen on these projects every single time,” stated Olinger. “It’s just a matter of providing them with all the information they need once we have it.”
Proposed downtown street lighting will upgrade existing lights to match those installed on Rush Creek Bridge during the recent Highway 43 project. The replacement lights will extend from the intersection of Mill Street to Norsland Lefse, the end of the business district.
The project will see cost sharing from the state and amounts are broken down in line with the cooperative agreement manual. Curb, gutter and driving lane to the center of the road are 100% MnDOT. Parking lanes are 90/10 state/city. Private outwalks, sanitary sewer and watermain are 100% city items. At this time, it appears the majority of storm sewer upgrades will be a MnDOT cost, but they are estimated at 95/5 state/city.
Estimated total costs for the project are $5.2 million, of which $2.86 million is state share and $2.3 million is city. Portions of the city share are directly accessible to property owners, including 100% of sidewalks and up to 30% of street, watermain, and sanitary sewer improvements. Typical preliminary assessments range from $9,974 for the average downtown lot and $12,515 for the average residential lot. The remaining city share will be paid utilizing general obligations bonds, repayment through utility fund and the tax levy. The costs are inline with those of other recent projects (2014, 2016, and 2019) when an inflationary cost is added in.
A public hearing on the project is scheduled for October 13. However, two public information meetings will be held October 8. Following the hearing, the next step will be approval for the remainder of design with plans ready to submit to MnDOT by September 2021.
In other news, city staff reviewed the Deer Hunting Policy and permit process. Since put in place in 2014, when nine permits were issued, the number of permits has not exceeded four. No changes were made in the policy. Statewide bow hunting opens September 19.
The Library will meet September 16 to determine whether remain closed to the public, with the exception of curbside pickup and browsing by appointment only or to reopen doors to the public.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting is Monday, September 28, at 6:30 p.m., at city hall.
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