First phase of North 6th Street resurfacing expected to start in 2018

WOOD RIVER — The city of Wood River received a commitment Tuesday for funding for the second phase of a more than $1 million resurfacing project set to begin in 2018.

Wood River Public Services Director Steve Palen said funding for resurfacing of North 6th Street from Edwardsville Road to Illinois Route 143, the second leg of the 6th Street resurfacing project, was secured this week after the money for the first phase was approved a few years ago. The project is estimated at $1 million, Palen said, with the federal government paying 75 percent and Madison County footing the other 25 percent.

That comes out to roughly $750,000 in federal money through the Federal Highway Administration’s Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), a funding and authorization bill that governs federal surface transportation spending. Each phase of the project is anticipated to cost the federal government around $375,000.

The other $250,000 will be paid for by the county through its matching tax budget, which was set up to match funds from federal and state sources to help municipalities complete road projects. The city will only be on the hook for design and construction engineering, which Palen estimated will still probably cost city roughly $100,000 per phase.

Even, so, Palen said without that help from the county, the city probably wouldn’t be able to undertake such a large-scale project.

“It makes it a lot easier to get a project done,” Palen said. “Otherwise, we’d be paying $125,000 in construction costs and $100,000 or so in engineering. To be honest, I don’t know if we could afford to do that. We might be able to do one of those two phases, but I don’t know if we could do them both in a three-year period.”

The first phase will involve resurfacing North 6th Street from Woodland Avenue south to Edwardsville Road. The project will also include installing new storm sewers, new sidewalks and ensuring Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility where needed.

With the funding for that leg of the project already secured, Palen said the city could start on the project as early as July 2018. The second phase, from Edwardsville Road south to Illinois Route 143 — locally known as East Madison Avenue — is anticipated to begin around 2020.

That phase will include installation of some new sidewalks and new curbs where needed. Palen also said all intersections will get handicap ramps.

The city will use money from its motor fuel tax (MFT) fund for its portion of the project.

Repaving has been a focus in recent years, and Palen also took the opportunity at Monday’s City Council meeting to update the council on the repaving program the city started in 2015. The first year of that program, which involved repaving of parts of Park, Anderson and Chessen avenues and Condit, Rice, Thompson and Haller streets, is nearing completion, Palen said. One road, Harnett Place, remains before the city is finished with the area.

The 2016 portion of the program will include repaving of Hamilton Street and Beach and Jennings avenues.

Reach reporter Nathan Grimm at 618-208-6451 or on Twitter @GrimmTelegraph.