Hopkins approves final plans for this year’s $8 million Street and Utility Improvement project

“One thing I do just want to hit on, too. I’m sure everyone on the council has noticed, right now the estimated cost is over our (capital improvement plan) budget for this. That’s due to a couple reasons. The biggest is just with the uncertainty of construction prices over the last two years. A lot of the estimates we used were really on the conservative side. We are expecting our bid prices to come in considerably lower than this but we still want it to remain conservative here and with that being said, if the bids do come in over our CIP budgeted amount, we do have a lot of work in there that has been added on to try and capitalize on economies of scales that can be taken out that won’t affect the core project,” Klingbeil said.

The main funding sources for the project come from the city’s levy, bonds, special assessments to individual property owners and the city’s utility funds.

Project improvements will focus on the following streets:

• 12th Avenue North to Mainstreet to 1st Street North.

• 14th Avenue North from Mainstreet to 2nd Street North.

• 15th Avenue North from Mainstreet to 2nd Street North.

• 16th Avenue North from Mainstreet to 1st Street North as well as 2nd Street North to 3rd Street North.

• 2nd Street North from 14th Avenue North to 15th Avenue North.

According to city documents, the pavement condition index for many of the streets are below 40, which “indicates failed pavement and warrants reconstruction. Maintenance procedures such as seal coating, mill and overlay, or reclamation are no longer effective strategies.”

The street improvements for those areas will involve full reconstruction of the streets as well as new curb and gutter.

The water main in those areas will also be replaced completely. City documents indicate the current water main is more than 60 years old and made from cast iron. The new water main for those areas will be made of ductile iron, which will be more reliable and will have a longer life than the original cast iron water main.

As far as sanitary sewer improvements go, the city will replace old and outdated material mains. City documents revealed the current sanitary sewer mains are also more than 60-years-old and are an outdated material. For storm sewer improvements, the streets will receive new curb and gutter and new storm sewer mains. Some sewer mains will be replaced with upsized mains to aid the handling of large storm events in the future as well and they will include storm sewer inlets to reduce water ponding.

Three additional pedestrian facilities that were included were the replacement of existing sidewalk and pedestrian ramps in the construction area, an addition of new sidewalk along the east side of 14th Avenue North and 1st Street North to 2nd Street North along Maetzold Field as well as an addition of a new sidewalk to fill in sidewalk gaps on 1st Street North from 14th Avenue North to 16th Avenue North.

There is also a variety of additional work funded by separate items in the CIP and budget included in the meeting packet for the Jan. 17 meeting.

To engage with the public, there were three public input opportunities. An informational meeting was held last September and a neighborhood meeting was held last October. The city sent out a questionnaire to properties in the project area last May prior to the neighborhood meetings, with 30 questionnaires filled out by residents.

The next neighborhood meeting regarding the project will be on March 15 and the city plans to award a contract at its March 21 meeting. Construction is set to begin in the spring and will finish in the fall. Residents can sign up for project updates on hopkins-2023.com.

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