5.2. SR 01-11-2011Item # 5.2.
MEMORANDUM
xiver
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Justin Femrite, P.E., City Engineer
DATE: January 10, 201 I
SUBJECT: Engineering Project Update
Below is a summary of the current projects the engineering department is working on.
1) GIS Mapping
Over the next two weeks the newly created GIS mapping application will be
rolled out to city staff. The information contained on the application has
come from all existing mapping information that the Ciry had available. The
application will function similar to the Sherburne County mapping
application but is tailored to the Ciry of Elk River. The application will allow
staff to view all of the City produced maps from their computer. The
application offers a lot of functions that will be used on a daily basis by staff
including property searches, printing mass mailing labels, creating customized
figures with the city logo, and much more.
Schedule
The next steps in improving the mapping application will happen at the
department levels over the next few years. Our goal is to have the
departments review their systems and start to develop more detailed sets of
data on all of their components. This will allow us to implement an asset
management component within the application. This asset management
component will allow each department to manage their systems through the
application by creating work orders and keeping maintenance records directly
in the application.
2) Eastern Area Trail and Mobility Improvements
This project involves the construction of the missing pieces of trail along the
east side of Twin Lakes Road from the Northstar Commuter Rail Station to
Trott Brook Parkway. It also provides ADA compliant sidewalks and
pedestrian ramps along Line Avenue from Main Street to 3rd Street. The
Transportation Enhancement Application for this project is due by January
14, 2011. Our application includes requesting 80% of the eligible project
N:\Public Bodies\City Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\1-10-2011\Engineer Update.docx
costs from the Federal program. Our application, which was completed in-
house, will be reviewed by the District 7W Transportation Advisory
Committee later this winter.
Schedule
If this project is selected for funding, we will begin the process to solicit
proposals for the completion of the Federal Project Memorandum, plans,
and specifications. This project would then be ready for construction in
2012 or 2013.
3) Pavement Management
We have completed the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) evaluations on
about'/a (500) of the street segments within the City. We collect and record
about 30 separate pieces of information on each street segment through
these evaluations. The snow has stopped our pavement evaluations for the
remainder of the season.
Schedule
We will continue to evaluate pavements when the conditions in the spring
allow. When the evaluations are complete we will begin to prioritize the
maintenance, repairs and reconstruction of streets based on their PCI
ranking and need in relation to all other segments within the city. Our goal is
to have the segments prioritized in time for the 2012 CIP update.
4) 2011 Street and Utility Improvements
This project includes the reconstruction of the streets generally located south
of Main Street, east of the railroad, and west of Carson Street. The proposed
improvements in this area would be a general widening of the roads to a
minimum of 26-feet. Freeport and Evans, for the first block south of Main
Street, would need to be wider to accommodate the on-street parking that
often overflows from the commercial buildings located on Main Street. A
storm sewer piping system would be extended into the area from the
intersection of Main Street and Evans Avenue to pick up runoff that in the
past has caused isolated flooding problems. There are no anticipated sanitary
sewer improvements necessary and only minor hydrant replacement and
relocations anticipated on the water system. This project was originally
planned for construction in 2009 with special assessments estimated at that
time to be $6,500 per single-family house. Current assessment estimates will
be determined as this project moves forward.
Also included in the project is the overlaying and reconstruction of Industrial
Boulevard, 192"d Court, and Triangle Road. This project was originally
proposed to be completed in 2010, but was not constructed due to the high
cost of the assessments. We will be reevaluating the project costs along these
segments. We are proposing to fund a portion of the project with State Aid
funds in an effort to reduce the amount to be assessed against the benefitting
properties.
N:\Public Bodies\City Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\1-10-2011\Engineer Update.docx
Schedule
If directed by the Council to proceed, we will solicit engineering proposals
for this project by March 2011. Construction could then begin by August
2011.
5) State Aid Updates
Every year we are required to review and update our State Aid system in
accordance with State rules. These updates assure the City of Elk River
receives the proper amount of allocated funding from the State. The updates
required are completed in two separate steps. At the beginning of the year
every State Aid community must certify the amount of miles they have in
their system and then by April every State Aid community is required to have
their `needs' updated. It is a combination of our certified miles, system
needs, and population that ultimately makes up the amount of State Aid
funds Elk River receives. Our estimated state aid allocation for 2011 is
$1,016,107.
Schedule
I have already completed and submitted the Certification of Miles for this
year. Over the next three months I will be completing the evaluation of our
system needs and or any system revisions that need to be completed.
6) TH 10 & TH 169 Preliminary Design and Environmental Assessments
The Environmental Assessment (EA) documents have been through the
public comment period. MNDOT and their consultant are working on
addressing the comments and completing the final document.
Schedule
MNDOT expects the EA's will receive official final approval by June 2011.
Upon approval of the documents, we will begin working with MNDOT to
solicit funding for the projects. It is anticipated the ultimate funding for
these projects will come from special legislation, appropriations, or a
combination thereof. To generate support for this type of funding we need
to continue lobbying efforts at both the State and Federal levels.
7) County Road 77 Turnback Discussion
We have had discussions with Sherburne County Public Works Director
John Mentor and County Engineer Rhonda Lewis about the possibility of
them turning back County Road 77 to the Ciry. The segment that has been
discussed includes County Road 77/Proctor Road, from County Road 1 to
County Road 33. The County will be completing a $500,000 resurfacing
improvement project to this segment in 2011. We originally asked the
County to consider widening of the roadway to accommodate biking or
pedestrian movements along the segment with their project. The
improvements the County is proposing will not accommodate our request
without changing the scope considerably. The additional width would alter
their project to include grading into the ditches and back slopes where they
have limited to no additional right-of--way.
N:\Public Bodies\Ciry Council\Coundl RCA\Agenda Packet\1-10-2011\Engineer Update.docx
As we discussed the limited options, the County suggested the possibility of
the City taking a turnback of the roadway, thus giving us more flexibility in
traffic control, speed limit, and ability to stripe the roadway to our standards
and provide for a wider shoulder area for bicycles.
Taking the turnback could benefit the City a number of ways. First, it allows
us to increase our State Aid mileage thus increasing our State Aid allocation.
Secondly, it will allow the City the opportunity to review the traffic control,
lane striping, and speed limits along the segment in accordance with our
standards to best serve the needs of the residents. It also gives the City
control of the right-of--way along this corridor allowing us to plan for and
provide utility and street network to the north if the gravel mining area were
to be developed.
Schedule
If the Council has desire for us to pursue this idea further we will work with
the County to draft an agreement and bring it back in the future for
consideration.
8) Business Center Drive Trail/Sidewalk
This project will complete the missing pieces of trail/sidewalk along Business
Center Drive between Joplin Street and the Orono Park. When the YMCA
was built, a sidewalk was constructed along the north side of Business Center
Drive along the YMCA parking lot. This project will connect this segment
of walk with the existing trail and sidewalk network at Joplin Street on the
west and Orono Park on the east.
Schedule
In the spring we will solicit quotes to survey the length of the project to
determine all existing conditions and limits of right-of--ways or easements.
With that information we will design the project in-house and work with the
City crews to have the project constructed.
9) Pond Maintenance
We are currently working with the Sherburne County Board of Soil and
Water (SCBSW) to determine which ponds within the older part of the City
should be cleaned to have the most beneficial impacts on water quality
entering the Mississippi River. We have budgeted to begin a pond
maintenance program in 2011. We are taking advantage of a study the
SCBSW is completing to evaluate and recommend the most beneficial areas
to begin our program.
Schedule
We anticipate bringing this to the Council fox consideration in March or
April of 2011, when the project is more defined.
N:\Public Bodies\Ciry Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\1-10-2011\Engineer Update.docx
10) WWTF Pumps and Controls
Over the past months the crew at the WWTF have been experiencing some
operations issues with the final clarifiers and sand filter at the plant. The
problem consists of a layer of sludge that has built up in the final clarifiers.
This sludge then affects the effluent water by sending additional solids to the
final sand filters before leaving the plant. The additional loading entering the
sand filters has caused some plugging and ultimately required replacement of
some sand media. The crew has exhausted methods to remove the sludge
blanket from the final clarifiers. This condition is taking large amounts of
staff time and requiring the replacement of the sand media in the filters. In
addition if the problem is left uncorrected, the effluent water leaving the
plant may exceed limits set by the MPCA for total suspended solids (TSS) by
this summer. This will result in a violation letter and corrective action order
from the MPCA.
In working with Bill Chang, the plant design engineer from BDM, we have
developed a solution to correct the problem. The solution includes adding
two pumps, modifying some plumbing, and controls on the sludge discharge
lines leaving the final clarifiers. This will allow the operations staff to remove
the sludge blanket from the clarifiers and lower the ultimate loading on the
sand filters.
We have estimated the costs for completing this work will be around $80,000
and come from the Sanitary Sewer Fund. To keep costs down the City crew
will be completing the required demolition and disassembly work. Gary
Leirmoe has solicited two quotes for the remaining installation of pumps,
plumbing, and completion of the controls work. I will bring the quotes
forward for consideration at the January 10, 2011 City Council meeting.
Schedule
Upon approval, we will direct the selected contractor to begin the work.
There is a long lead time to order the pumps and controls and thus we need
to have the contractor order them now to allow for the installation by the
end of Apri12011.
11) Intersection Enhancements
We have been in discussion with MNDOT who will be completing a
pavement rehabilitation project along TH 169 in 2012. In our discussions
with MNDOT we expressed the desire to incorporate a designated right
hand turn lane at the intersection. of Jackson Avenue and TH 169 for east
bound to south bound traffic. MNDOT was going to complete a survey of
this area to identify the existing conditions and right-of--way limits.
We are also considering the extension of the right turn lane at the
intersection of Main Street and TH 169 for east bound to south bound
traffic. Similar to the improvements we completed along Main Street in the
opposite corner of the intersection during 2010, we would extend the turn
lane to the west to provide additional stacking.
N:\Public Bodies\Ciry Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\1-10-2011\Engineer Update.docx
We have discussed the idea of adding a right turn lane at the intersection of
Proctor Road (CR 1) and TH 10 with Sherburne County. Due to a number
of constraints including right-of--way, driveways, and the intersection of 6`"
Street, the addition of a new separated turn lane in this location is not
feasible. We are continuing to discuss options to help with the turning
movements in this intersection.
Schedule
We will continue to work with MNDOT in securing a survey of the TH 169
and Jackson Avenue intersection. We will have a survey completed in the
spring along Main Street at the intersection of TH 169 to begin evaluating
the improvements and right-of--way needed to complete the project.
12) Raw Watermain Improvements (ERMU)
We have been working with David Berg, the Water Superintendent with the
ERMU, on developing plans for this project. ERMU has hired a surveyor to
complete a topographic survey of the project area. We will use this survey to
design the improvements in-house.
Schedule
Upon completion of the topographic survey we will begin the design of the
improvements. Construction is expected to begin during the summer of
2011.
13) River Line Sanitary Sewer Abandonment
This project involves the abandonment of the river line sewer between Nile
Place and the Orono Dam. This sanitary sewer line was installed along the
bluff line of the Elk River to serve the area back in the 1940's. The sewer
line is impossible to maintain and has deteriorated to the point of no longer
being reliable. We are in desperate need to abandon the old river line due to
its present condition. If the line fails we could back sewage up into the
basements of the connected homes and potentially directly into the Elk
River. We have an emergency pumping plan developed to deal with a failure
of the line but then would have to force disconnection from the line
immediately without warning or planning for the connected residents.
There are 24 residential properties along the Elk River, Main Street, and Nile
Place that are still connected to this line. In 1988, a new sanitary sewer line
was installed as part of the Main Street reconstruction project to take the
place of the old river line. New sanitary sewer services were stubbed into all
the properties along Main Street at that time. In 1988, the properties that
were served off of the river line were not forced to hook up to the new line.
They were allowed to stay connected to the old river line until it became
unusable. At that time the properties would be required to hook up to the
new line in Main Street. The sanitary sewer line installed in 1988 is a trunk
main that serves a larger area than the adjacent properties along Main Street.
As such, the entire sanitary sewer cost in 1988 was spread over all properties
within the trunk sewer service area. The properties along Main Street
received a sanitary sewer assessment based on their area just the same as all
N:\Public Bodies\City Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\1-1Q2011\Engineer Update.docx
other properties to the west that ultimately drain to the trunk sewer line. No
additional costs were levied against the Main Street properties for the benefit
of stubbing new services to the property line. Those costs were included in
the total trunk assessment and spread out as a trunk cost against all
properties in the service area.
The project to accomplish the abandonment of the river line is expected to
be completed in three phases. Phase 1 will involve the 16 properties with
direct access to sewer service on Main Street. We will work with these
properties to establish a timeline for them to complete service improvements
on their property to get connected to the services that have been stubbed to
their property off of Main Street. These improvements will be completed on
private property at the direct expense of the property owners. We are not
recommending a public contract to complete the improvements proposed in
Phase 1 due to all of the improvements being completed on private property.
Phase 2 will involve obtaining easements and constructing sewer upgrades to
serve four residential properties very near the river behind the Elk River
Municipal Utilities building. These improvements would be constructed
within easements via a City contract and assessed against the properties.
Phase 3 will involve the abandonment of the majority of the river line and
slip lining one section that is to remain on the east end between Nile Place
and Norfolk Avenue. The costs for this slip lining will be assessed against
the four properties that will remain connected to this line.
Schedule
We will be beginning communication with the affected property owners
during the next few months. We axe looking for direction on establishing a
realistic time line to require property owners affected in Phase 1 to be
disconnected from the river line. We will work on Phase 2 concurrently with
Phase 1. Phase 3 will be completed only after Phase 1 and 2 have been fully
completed.
14) WWTF Beneficial Reuse of Effluent Water
We have completed an application fora 50% match to study the beneficial
reuse of our treated effluent water. Our effluent would be used by Great
River Energy in some of their plant processes. The intention of the grant is
to provide funding to study, design, and construct improvements that will
reduce the amount of potable water used for industrial purposes. We have
conducted a meeting with Great River Energy to brainstorm some ideas that
might benefit them and us.
Schedule
If we axe selected for the funding match we would complete a Facility Plan
update to study the water effluent stream leaving the WWTF. This Facility
Plan update would be complete by June of 2011 and at that time we will
evaluate the findings and make a recommendation as to whether the project
should be continued into final design.
N:\Public Bodies\Ciry Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\1-10-2011\Engineer Update.docx
15) 1716` Area Environmental Review and Preliminary Engineering
With direction received at the December 13 work session, I will be working
with the planning department to solicit proposals for the completion of an
AUAR over the entire project and a preliminary engineering report for Phase
1 of the development.
Schedule
The schedule will be defined when proposals have been received and
evaluated. We are expecting to receive proposals by the end of February,
2011.
16) Transportation Plan Update
An update to the transportation plan was included in the 2011 CIP. The last
update completed was in 2004. A lot of things have changed since the 2004
update. Some of the changes include the planning along the TH 10 and TH
169 corridors and the updates to the Sherburne County and Anoka County
transportation plans. It is appropriate we revise our plan to assure it fits with
some of the plans that the other agencies have completed that affect the
traffic patterns within Elk River.
Schedule
I would propose completing our transportation plan update after the
transportation work has been completed as part of the AUAR process for
the 1715` Area. The modeling and analysis completed in that plan will have a
large effect on our final transportation plan. This would allow for the
transportation plan update to be started late in 2011.
17) Policy Updates
The previous Public Works Director was directed to develop a traffic
calming policy to address the ever increasing amount of inquiries the City
receives in regards to traffic concerns. It was also on the list to review and
update the Special Assessment policy. These updates were never completed.
Schedule
We will be working on the creation of a traffic calming policy and revision of
the assessment policy in the coming months. We plan to bring them to a
future work session for your review.
18) Development Close Outs
There remain a number of private developments that have not been closed
out or completed in accordance with their development agreements. Some
remaining items include final bituminous wear, turf restoration, and
miscellaneous punchlist items.
Schedule
Cuter the winter months I will be working with the planning department to
review all outstanding developments and identify all required improvements
that remain to be completed. Upon our full review we will be
N:\PubGc Bodies\Ciry Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\1-10-2011\Engineer Update.docx
communicating with the respective developers to have the improvements
completed. Our goal is by the end of 2011 we have no outstanding
improvements remaining to be completed.
19) Traffic Signal System Inventorv
We are currently working with Sherburne County to complete a
comprehensive traffic signal system inventory and inspection for all 18
systems within the City. Upon our request, the County agreed to allow their
signal technician to assist us with this task at no cost to the City. Upon
completion of this project we will have a comprehensive list of all
maintenance agreements and condition ratings for every signal system in one
organized location.
Schedule
I held a meeting with Sherburne County's technician and he is currently
working on this project for us. The project will be completed over the next
few months as his schedule allows. We will use the information obtained
through these inspections to prioritize the signal system painting budgeted
for 2011.
At the work session I will be prepared to discuss the above listed projects in more detail and
take any comments, questions or direction. If you have any questions on the above projects
before the meeting please call.
N:\PubGc Bodies\Ciry Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\1-10-2011\Engineer Update.docx