01-23-2012 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, January 9, 2012 7:00 o'clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 7 (4. FOREST LAKE CHANNEL - CSAH 19 BRIDGE REPLACEMENT, Continued) Archer stated the Hennepin County Transportation Department is planning to replace the North Shore Drive bridge over the channel that links Forest Lake to West Arm. Construction is planned for the summer of 2012. The bridge was originally constructed in 1928 and has far exceeded both its design and service life. The current sufficiency rating of the structure is 24.4, which makes the structure structurally deficient and the worst bridge on Hennepin County’s rating system. Archer displayed some pictures of the bridge and noted that the bridge currently has narrow shoulders and is located on a curve. In addition, the substructure is canted, there is substantial corrosion on the girders, and the deck is becoming deteriorated. Archer indicated the design considerations being looked at are a higher vertical clearance for boat traffic and a wider structure to accommodate pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Hennepin County Transportation Department will be attempting to limit the impacts of construction on adjacent property owners, the water body, and users. Cost is a factor in the design. There are also some steep embankments and existing utilities that will need to be taken into consideration. Water patrol issues will be addressed during the construction phase. The proposed design for the new bridge is a three span concrete slab to allow for maximum boat clearance and piers that will be placed outside the channel to reduce impacts on boat traffic. As a result of those improvements, the structure will be lengthened by 32 feet, the roadway approach will be improved, and some architectural features will be added to the bridge. There is an open house scheduled for Thursday, January 26. Letters have been sent to the residents of Forest Lake and other adjacent property owners. The project is currently in detailed engineering and will need to undergo a federal review process, which is roughly a four week process. Following that review process, the project will then be put out for bids, with construction anticipated to start sometime in June. The project should be completed in October. Archer indicated there will not be many impacts to users before or after construction. During construction they do anticipate a detour around the north side of Forest Lake along CSAH 151. There will be impacts to boat traffic during construction. Archer indicated they hope to have a flag person on the construction crew to stop boat traffic during certain periods of construction but that they hope to keep the channel open part of the time. They will maintain channel usage for emergency patrol. The duration of the detour would be June through October. Archer noted there is no cost to the City at this time but that the Hennepin County Transportation Department still has to determine what items will be funded through the federal review process. Archer stated they hope to have the final plans to Orono Staff sometime in February for comment and then the City Council would be approving the project following that comment period. Rahn asked how long the bridge would be closed at any one time to boat traffic. Archer indicated he is not sure at this time but that the adjacent property owners would be given advance notice of any closures. They will be avoiding closures on major holidays and weekends. Item #03 - CC Agenda - 01/23/2012 Approval of Council Minutes 01/09/2012 [Page 2 of 7]