Viaduct proposal arrives

COLUMBUS - The City Council received the master agreement for the viaduct proposal last week and will meet June 25 in a special session to decide whether to approve the contract.

To see the agreement, cut and paste this link into your browser: www.columbustelegram.com/pics/agreement.pdf

The agreement, involving the City of Columbus, the Nebraska Department of Roads and the Union Pacific Railroad, is based on the previously proposed “Hybrid Plan ‘B'” that was advanced by the council last January.

The master agreement stipulates a three-viaduct package, with Third and 12th avenues to be considered as a package, and a 23rd Avenue viaduct package to follow. The two portions would require separate authorization by the city voters.

The agreement maintains the same construction and crossing closure schedule and minimum cost estimate of $1.65 million.

Cap amounts are not included in the agreement.

According to the agreement, “all actual costs exceeding such cap amount shall be borne 100 percent by the city. The state and railroad shall confer and agree on the cap amount utilized in the construction and maintenance agreement.”

City Administrator Joseph Mangiamelli said that cap agreement and other ancillary agreements associated with the project would have to be approved by the City Council before they are authorized.

Mayor Mike Moser said this agreement is similar to the previous plan, but it contains greater detail and legal terminology.

“Since this is a complicated and legally binding agreement, the city attorney will have to interpret some of the provisions and offer us his opinion,” Moser said Friday.

“(The wording of “Hybrid Plan ‘B'” made it) pretty plain to me what the goals and the terms of the agreement were,” Moser said. “This new agreement is a legally binding document and has things in it that may not be readily apparent to the average citizen because attorneys and courts have their own way of coding these things, and we just have to sort through all the terms of it.”

A concern brought up by some citizens the last time the council addressed this issue was the inclusion of fencing, which is not included in the master agreement, but such a design would be the responsibility of the city, according to the agreement.

Also according to the agreement, the city would be responsible for the development and preparation of “all preliminary and final design detailed plans and specifications, including cost estimates for all the overpass (viaduct and pedestrian overpass) structures and street closures. � The project plans shall include and show the required fencing to funnel pedestrians to the pedestrian overpass structures and to prevent pedestrians from trespassing on (the railroad's) adjacent property.”

All plans must be approved by the state and railroad prior to execution.

The city also would bear the initial costs associated, but those costs would later be apportioned among the city, state and railroad upon the start of each respective project.

Mangiamelli said the fencing is a design detail that will be worked out, but he does not consider it to be of such importance that it should stall the advancement of the project.

“Fencing is such a minor detail. I would hope we wouldn't get hung up on fencing or have the election swayed one way or another by a fence,” he said.

Overall, the agreement is in line with what the council approved in January, Mangiamelli said.

“There aren't any surprises and it is, from my perspective, what we asked for last July when I recommended to the city council that the city move forward on the proposal,” he said. “It has taken a long time to get to this point, and I hope the council adopts the resolutions and agreements presented to them on June 25” during a special meeting of the council to try to advance the project in time for a November special election.

Comments posted on an earlier version of the story.

mike3 wrote on Jun 17, 2007 2:16 PM:

" Too bad the idiots in this town will vote it down. There is no Power or Progress in this dump, just NIMBY's afraid of change. "

WOO-HOO!!! wrote on Jun 17, 2007 4:15 AM:

" Outstanding! I hope that this is the one that gets it done. BUT Anyone willing to bet me that the city of Columbus (or a few vocal residents) will somehow manage to muck this up to oblivion? We have a chance to move into the future with this deal, I am optimistic that this is the agreement that the city has been looking for. "

Engineer wrote on Jun 18, 2007 2:11 PM:

" It appears to me that by signing this contract, we will be closing 27th ave regardless of the vote. I also don't see any part that will redue3rd ave, just the approach to the viaduct. I am glad the city attorney will be looking at this closely. I hope the city counsel thinks about this carefully before voting to sign it. I also hope JD fixes the link to the contract again Everyone interested in this issue needs to read through it. "