[Durham INC] Durham's American Tobacco Trail Bridge Moves Forward

[Blalock, Amy]

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

 

 

News Release

 

For Details, Contact:

Amy Blalock

Sr. Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 11253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at DurhamNC.gov

 

 

 

 

For Immediate Release: August 5, 2011

 

 

 

American Tobacco Trail Bridge Construction to Move Forward

 

DURHAM, N.C. - Following discussion at its August 4, 2011 work session
meeting, the Durham City Council remains committed to completing the
American Tobacco Trail and bridge, despite the more than $2 million
difference between July bids and earlier projected construction costs.

 

According to City Manager Tom Bonfield, the project is a priority for
the City because of its strategic location, "serving as a major and
heavily used north-south route for pedestrians and bicyclists. The
construction of the new section would also carry the trail to the
commercial sector south of U.S. Interstate 40 and to several
neighborhoods in southern Durham."

 

The Public Works Department, responsible for construction of the bridge
and trail, recommends that the entire project be completed, but in two
phases, in order to identify needed funding. According to Director
Marvin Williams, construction would begin with part of the trail from
N.C. Highway 54 and include the new bridge over U.S. Interstate 40,
using existing funding of $5.8 million, with the project being awarded
to low bidder during the July process. Additional funds of about
$800,000 would be obtained using existing funds designated for other
projects. A contract will be recommended to City Council for approval
within 30 days.

 

A later contract would be issued for the remainder of the trail, south
of U.S. Interstate 40 to the Chatham County line.  The Public Works
Department has recommended approaching the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro
Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to consider reprioritizing
funding currently authorized for sidewalks and bike lanes. Both the MPO
and the N.C. Department of Transportation would have to agree, and the
process would likely take about six months. Even though the second
contract would be awarded nearly a year following the contract for the
bridge, both projects might likely be completed at the same time due to
the time needed to construct the bridge.

 

Since MPO funding typically comes as an 80/20 match, approximately $3
million would be needed from the MPO and about $760,000 from the City.
More information about the source of the funding and construction needs
will be forthcoming following a more detailed analysis. 

 

For more information about this project, visit the City's website at 
www.DurhamNC.gov/Departments/Works/Project_am_tob_trail.cfm. 

 

###

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110805/87eeb50d/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2630 bytes
Desc: image005.jpg
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110805/87eeb50d/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1013 bytes
Desc: image006.jpg
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110805/87eeb50d/attachment-0003.jpg>