Relocation of poles, lines next phase of widening project

Engineering will begin soon on the city of Jackson's part in the Highway 34/72 widening project as the city attempts to comply with a Missouri Department of Transportation January deadline.

The city aims to have all of the utility poles, lines and pipes relocated by the first week of January, although that depends on how quickly MoDOT can negotiate with property owners and take possession of right-of-way.

MoDOT and Jackson are teaming up to widen Highways 34 and 72 from two lanes to four, beginning at the Highway 25 intersection. Eventually, the widening will continue beyond the city limits to the intersection of 34 and 72, but both parties are concentrating on phase 1 of the project, which runs from Highway 25 to Main Street.

The total utility relocation costs for the city, engineering and construction combined, will be about $1 million, an amount that was not included in this year's budget.

City officials decided after the budget was passed, that the city would save money in the long run by doing the utility relocation on its own, as opposed to having MoDOT do it and billing the city later.

The city would save costs, city administrator Jim Roach said, by being the first to claim access to the easements, the area set aside for the utilities. This would eliminate engineering and construction costs associated with having to work around other utility lines, such as gas and telephone.

Assistant city administrator Larry Koenig said the city will likely dip into its transportation sales tax surplus funds to cover the costs.

Counting up costs

"There's sufficient money to take care of it," he said. "We'll have to work with some surplus money and we'll get some reimbursement."

The city will be reimbursed for any utility that has to be moved from outside MoDOT's right-of-way, Roach said. Any utility moved from the state's right-of-way would be funded by the city or utility company.

City officials say there will be a small window of construction opportunity to meet the January deadline.

Jackson director of electric utilities Don Schuette said the city won't be able to complete the project until the right-of-way is cleared and easements are granted.

"There are some places where our poles will need to go in someone's living room," he said at a recent board of aldermen meeting. City officials are skeptical that the right-of-way will be cleared in time to complete the utility relocation, but they say they don't want to be responsible for holding up the project.

Eric Krapf, project manager with MoDOT, said there are roughly 75 properties that will be affected by the highway improvement. Of those, he said MoDOT has made offers on 50. Of the 50, about 30 cases have been settled, he said.

"We're planning to have, probably, all the offers made this summer," he said. "We hope to have it all clear by the end of the year. That's what we're shooting for."

MoDOT has already awarded a demolition contract to clear out some of the houses and motorists should see buildings coming down "pretty soon," Krapf said.

The Board of Aldermen will likely approve an engineering contract at its next meeting.

Horner and Shifrin was the lowest bidder for the water and sewer relocation. That firm will complete the engineering for $70,800 and for an additional $3,500 will provide computer modeling to decide if any of the water lines should be increased in size.

Strickland Engineering's bid of $24,635 was the lowest for the electric utility relocation.

Bollinger roughly estimated that the construction costs for the water and sewer relocation would be $500,000. Schuette estimated construction costs of $400,000.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635