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The city council had a special meeting tonight (yes, even more special than usual) regarding the Winnequah Road/Bridge Road intersection. In December 2005, the council approved a concept design for that intersection that kept the same basic traffic operations and same physical configuration, but added the widened bike path along the northwest corner (the corner where the MG&E substation is located). Suffice to say that what was built was not entirely what the council approved (but was in the engineers' final design).
Council met tonight and decided to remove small parts of the curb at that intersection only. These changes will bring the plan more in line with what the council approved. The added cost for the change is only $375.
No changes were made in any other part of the project. The project is anticipated to completely finished by November 4, but paving should take place within the next couple weeks.
It's been a long process, but I think the road will be really nice when it's done - although I expect some yelping over some aspects because they are new and different.
Monday, October 09, 2006
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I have to question this $375 cost. I don't know how long it took, but does $375 REALLY cover the cost (power shovel/labor/old materials removal/rebuilding to approved spec)? I am dubious of this. It also was not made very clear who will pay this - while Mayor Kahl indicated that MSA would cover it, no real verification was provided. Also I have to say that the whole approval process was HORRIBLE - basically doing away with everything that the citizens provided input on to the final approval and whittling down of the features of the plan at 2:15 am...Alder McKeever was spot on in his opinion last night.
ReplyDeleteWell, $375 is the figure the contractor gave us - the contract is a unit cost contract. Maybe he's giving us a good deal. Whatever, cost was not really a factor. If you watched the 2:15 a.m. meeting I actually said then that we should not be designing roads period or certainly not at 2:15 am.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% about the approval process. Suslick and Wiswell are all about appeasing a few special friends on the lake who always find a way to disagree with the consensus. Taking out the traffic features that were originally included as part of design was a dirty trick played on the residents along winnequah, people whe worked for more than a year to get it right. Over riding the real concerns about safety so that a few people can get out of town quicker.
ReplyDeleteWhat few special friends on the lake are Suslick trying to please? I believe I have less people who support me on the lake then do. Seems to be the other way around. I stand by my vote which was to improve the surface and and under street stuff. I never saw the need for all the extras. There was no problem to be fixed. In my short time in Government, I have seen how these public involvement projects normally go. Good public policy dosen't normally come out of them. Many times the "special interest" wins out. Dale
ReplyDeleteWatch out if Wiswell tries to become Mayor. We will see a whole lot more of the behind-the-scenes BS that wa spulled at the late night meeting! He engineered the whole Winnequah Rd process, and I think the street will be a more dangerous venue. I'm glad the chokers were inadvertently narrowed...hopefully the "Gold Coast" people can live with it. They have no choice.
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