by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
An ambitious street-walkway-utility project for the neighborhood in the vicinity of the current Sartell High School will be advertised for bids, the Sartell City Council decided at its March 11 meeting.
The engineer’s estimate for the base bid is $1.44 million, according to Jon Halter, the city’s engineer from Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. A push-button crossing system at Pinecone Road at Seventh Street would require an alternate bid of an additional estimated $350,000. The council decided to include that alternate in the bid package, but its members are not yet certain when or if that crossing will be installed.
All told, the base bid and related costs could total $1,858,000.
The project involves the addition of sanitary sewer, water main, storm sewer, street-and-sidewalk reconstruction, road overlays, trails and pedestrian crossings in parts of the following areas:
At existing Second Avenue from Fourth Street N. to Fifth Street N.; on existing Fifth Avenue N. from 2-1/2 Street to Fifth Street N.; on existing 2-1/2 Street from Fifth Avenue N. to Third Avenue N.; on existing Fifth Street N. extending 611 feet east from Pinecone Road N.; and on existing Seventh Street N. from Pinecone Road N. to Riverside Avenue.
There will be a sidewalk installed on the east side of Fifth Avenue as part of the Safe Route to Schools effort, which, thanks to a grant, is part of the overall project. Seventh Street N. will be redone, with a trail added, as well. There are a couple of pedestrian crossings planned for Seventh Street N. and one across Pinecone Road N. at Central Park Boulevard.
The neighborhood has become busier with motor traffic and pedestrians as developments, including Pinecone Central Park, began to gain heavy use. In addition, the Pinecone Road corridor to its west will be extremely busy when the new high school opens to the north next year.
Assessments for the project will be determined this coming fall. Residents will not be assessed for some parts of the project, such as the Safe Routes to School amenities. They will be assessed for street work (35 percent of the front-yard footage; 35 percent for storm sewer based on square footage; 35 percent of water main and 100 percent for the sewer service hook-up to homes).