Eisenhower to be improved but not until 2009 years ago
Staff reporter
Marion City Council went back to business Monday evening by approving specific streets to be engineered and overlayed, and other streets to be patched and chipped and sealed.
An engineering estimate will be established for the streets that were selected.
Jon Halbgewachs of the engineering firm of Kirkham Michael, Inc., Ellsworth, presented information about engineering cost estimates for asphalt overlays on various streets.
The city had approved a bid from Kaw Valley Construction but the projects had not been engineered. Since that bid was obtained, construction costs have increased.
The list included three streets that residents had petitioned for the improvements, North Cedar Street, and Eisenhower Drive. Halbgewachs said Eisenhower Drive would be a project of its own.
Mayor Mary Olson said she did not want curb and gutter on Eisenhower Drive. The other council members followed her lead and decided not to include curb and gutter on Eisenhower Drive. Halbgewachs said the street would drain better with ditches than gutters but the ditches needed to be cut wider and deeper.
There will be a rock wedge on the edge of the asphalt instead of a shoulder.
Currently Eisenhower is 22 feet wide. It was suggested the road be expanded to 30 feet. The cost estimate for Eisenhower was $204,299.
The engineer explained that construction of Eisenhower and the other selected streets for the overlay project would begin in 2009. When the council complained about the amount of time required, Halbgewachs said it would take that much time to engineer and bid the project.
Marion County and the City of Marion were to cooperate in the engineering and overlay of Eisenhower Drive to save both entities money in mobilization and engineering fees.
Later in the meeting, the council approved an additional $9,355 for skin or blade patching streets slated to be chipped and sealed.
City officials told the council that city crews were too busy to patch the streets before construction crews begin the project next week. Thus, the city had to pay the construction company for the additional work.
The council also approved $90,320 for patching and chip seal on specific blocks and streets that included Jex Addition, Hudson, Fourth and Moore, Water, Freeborn, Weldon, Nickerson, Tanglewood, Lincoln, and South Cedar.
The total money spent for all patching and chip and seal projects was $241,755.
