Council presses staff for cost and traffic data as Redbud Trail bids come in

City engineering staff presented updated cost estimates for the Redbud Trail project and said final project expenses depend on returned bids and which cost items are eligible for federal reimbursement.

"The budget was $12,118,000 and then in addition to that, we had $400,000 for public art," said Public Works/engineering staff member Gunzelman (speaker 7), describing the packet figures and an earlier estimated project cost of about $18 million. He told council Phase 1 favorable bids put a current bid-based estimate at roughly $14,600,000.

Staff said regional partner WAMPO could provide up to $10,000,000 for construction work, but federal funds typically do not cover design or certain other local costs; Gunzelman explained the city still bears obligations for design, right-of-way and other non-eligible elements. Council members asked for clarity on which line items count toward the 20% local match and which do not.

Members pressed staff on why a bridge was proposed over Rock Road rather than a signalized crossing. Gunzelman said traffic volumes on Rock Road — about 30,000 vehicles per day, according to his presentation — supported a grade-separated crossing at that location. "The traffic counts on Rock Road are approximately 30,000 vehicles per day," he said and agreed to provide the detailed traffic counts and bridge cost breakdown before the Tuesday meeting.

Staff reiterated that any savings from favorable bids would return to the city's general obligation fund and could be reprogrammed in future CIP cycles. No final decisions were made; staff will deliver a PowerPoint with slide-level details and the bid tabulation for council review ahead of the next meeting.

Next steps: staff to provide the traffic counts, the bridge cost breakdown and the detailed bid tabulation for Phase 1 in advance of the Tuesday meeting.