Approve Continuing the Process for the Advance Construction of the Mississippi River Trail

On March 25th, 2014, City Council approved proceeding with the Advance Construction of the Mississippi River Trail by approving $18,000 from the Park Trust Fund for Bolton & Menk to prepare the necessary Project Memorandum (PM).  The PM has been approved by MnDOT's Federal Aid office and the grant funding is secured.  The next step is to prepare Plans and Specifications and let Bids for the trail that will be constructed parallel to the Riverdale Drive Reconstruction/Extension project later this summer.

By approving this Consent Agenda, Council will be approving the balance of the needed consulting engineering in the amount of $62,676 from the Park Trust Fund, to complete the Mississippi River Trail from Armstrong Boulevard, east to the the 'outfall trail' where the first grant and trail project will also be constructed in 2014.  This project will come back to Council once more to award bids specifically for the trail's construction.

Note: The following case narrative is substantially the same text as the March 25th City Council case, but amended as necessary for clarity and accuracy based upon progress during the last 3 months.

In 2009 and 2011, City Council authorized the application for Transportation Enhancement grant funding for constructing the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) across the city.  The 2009 grant application requested funds for constructing an easterly segment of the MRT connecting the City of Anoka’s MRT (on King’s Island) to Mississippi West Regional Park.  Then the 2011 grant application requested funds for constructing the westerly segment from the Mississippi West Regional Park to city limits west of MnDOT’s Wayside Rest facility at Ramsey's border with Elk River.  Both of these competitive grant applications for Federal funds were successful.
 
The eastern project from the City of Anoka to the Mississippi West Regional Park was awarded for construction and is scheduled to be completed in 2014.  The western segment of the MRT grant in Ramsey was awarded in 2011 in the amount of $1,120,000 for State fiscal year 2016, which runs from July 2015 through June 2016.  These Transportation Enhancement projects, administered by MnDOT to Federal construction standards, have a grant cycle with a 'call' for proposals each year, with the monies generally available 4 to 5 years from award.  This was the case with both of these two MRT projects.

While grant applications are written with the best information available at the time, conditions can change in the years between award and implementation.  The purpose of this case to highlight the favorable change in conditions, and receive Council approval to proceed with the advance construction of portions of the MRT, concurrent with certain roadway improvements in a manner that doesn't jeopardize the reimbursement grant.
 

In 2012, the City of Ramsey received approval to proceed with the easterly segment of the MRT, with westerly termini at the 'outfall trail' (at Mississippi West Regional Park).  Since then, a Cooperative Agreement project was approved with MnDOT for the reconstruction of Riverdale Drive from Armstrong Boulevard to the cul-de-sac east of  Alpaca Street.  This same project includes the extension of Riverdale Drive from the east end of the reconstruction project to Traprock Street.  The easterly MRT project will be timed such that when the extension of Riverdale Drive is complete, the trail will be paved immediately thereafter to the location of the outfall trail, meeting the terms of the grant award, and thus being eligible for reimbursement.

The Riverdale Drive Extension/Reconstruction project easily accommodates the MRT grant-funded project without concern for eligibility to receive reimbursement - as the required Project Memorandum had previously been approved authorizing the construction.  However, the westerly MRT project (parallel to Riverdale) had not been approved for construction.  (Now approved by Federal aid as of June 214.)  This presents a practical problem, as the city  would be in the position of inconveniencing residents and business owners for the Riverdale Drive reconstruction in 2014 - only to receive subsequent approval for the westerly MRT project, with more construction activity to occur in exactly the same right-of-way. Further, the city would pay for all the same traffic control signage and other similar redundant costs.

The other change in condition that occurred since the 2011 MRT award is full funding for the Armstrong Interchange project.  Similar to the above construction sequencing, the desire would be to construct a portion of the westerly MRT project with the interchange construction project to maximize efficiencies for all stakeholders.  However, because the MRT  grant is Federally funded, not only would the necessary early notification documents and Project Memorandum need to be completed in advance of the bid documents and bidding for the Interchange (with other approvals as well); all Plan Sets of the larger project would need to meet Federal standards. It would therefore be more cost efficient for the city to pay for advance construction of the MRT with the Interchange (without future grant reimbursement), than it would be to separately perform the work with grant monies after the interchange is constructed.  Plus, there would be the public appearance of project completion, only to witness traffic control signage coming down, then going back up at a later date, with the same grading, redundant mobilization, restoration, etc.

Given the above challenges relating to the MRT, Staff feels that it is best to proceed to continue with advance construction of the MRT through both the Riverdale Drive Extension/Reconstruction (eligible for grant reimbursement) and Armstrong Boulevard Interchange (not eligible for grant reimbursement) projects.  As implied, this would authorize the city to proceed with construction of these segments of the MRT using local funds initially, and understanding that the reimbursement would not occur until sometime during State fiscal year 2016 (for the Riverdale portions). 
 
 

Estimated construction costs for the Riverdale Drive trail segment discussed herein is estimated at $250,000.  Staff anticipates that 80% of these costs will be reimbursed with awarded grant funds in SFY 2016 (July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016).  Staff proposes using the Park Trust Fund to pay for the advance construction of the MRT.  Any funds recovered in SFY 2016 would then be deposited back into this account.

The not-to-exceed engineering cost for Bolton - Menk to complete all necessary work for MRT from Armstrong Boulevard along Riverdale Drive to Mississippi West Regional Park is $80,676 - $18,000 of which has already been approved. ($62,670 in work remaining, and requiring Council authorization).  Staff also proposes paying for this engineering from the Park Trust Fund.  This work is not reimbursable using awarded grant funds.
 
In an effort to limit project costs, staff will continue to look for opportunities to complete all or portions of the construction administration, staking, and inspections in-house.

Staff recommends authorizing advance construction of the MRT segments through the Riverdale Drive Reconstruction/Extension project in 2014, and through the Highway 10 & Armstrong Boulevard Interchange project in 2015. 

The remaining MRT segment west of the Armstrong Boulevard Interchange would then be constructed in 2016 as currently programmed.  This would result in each segment of the westerly MRT project being constructed in orderly progression from east to west which would meet user expectations, result in less disruption to the public due to concurrent construction, and also save the City money due to avoiding redundant costs that are typically incurred with separate projects.  
 

Motion to approve progressing with the advance construction of portions of the Mississippi River Trail, by the authorization of a not-to-exceed amount of $62,670 for consulting engineering by Bolton-Menk for the section of the MRT associated with Riverdale Drive Reconstruction/Extension.