$873K contract for greenway, other work awarded by Bloomington board of public works

Awarded to E&B Paving by Bloomington’s board of public works on Tuesday was a $873,378 construction contract that includes the Hawthorne-Weatherstone neighborhood greenway project.

The project is a north-south connection running through central Bloomington, between 3rd Street on the north end to Hillside Drive on the south.

All other things being equal, the project would probably start construction when the weather is warm enough—in late March or early April.

But based on remarks by city staff at the meeting, Kerry Thomson’s incoming mayoral administration will have a chance to scrutinize the project before it proceeds.

Part of that scrutiny could include a review of the project’s compliance with the letter of state fire code.

The project includes: installation of asphalt speed cushions and speed humps; construction of an asphalt trail connecting Weatherstone Lane to Hawthorne Drive; concrete curb bump outs; concrete curb ramps; pavement markings, signs, rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) at the intersection of Weatherstone and Hillside Drive, incidental patching, removal of trees, and restoration of areas with topsoil, sodding and trees.

The construction award also includes a greenway project for Miller Drive, to install five speed cushions between Henderson and Olive Streets.

The total construction contract was more than twice as much as the roughly $350,000 figure that bicycle and pedestrian safety commission (BPSC) members understood to be the cost of just the Hawthorne-Weatherstone project, when they voted in September to give it a greenlight.

At Tuesday’s meeting, senior project engineer Neil Kopper cited a number of factors, beyond the addition of the Miller Drive project, that contributed to a greater cost than the numbers that had been mentioned previously.

Those factors included additional improvements at the Weatherstone-Hillside intersection. Also making the actual cost higher was the fact that while the trail connection between Weatherstone and Hawthorne had always been mentioned as a part of the project, it had not been included in the cost estimates, Kopper said.

The cost was a point of criticism from the public who attended at the contentious BPSC September meeting, as well as on Tuesday when the three-member board of public works approved the construction contract on a unanimous vote.

On Tuesday, commenters from the public mic also opposed the project, contending that traffic calming is not needed along that stretch, because it is already calm. Nearby resident Betty Rose Nagle put it like this: “From the dead end [on Hawthorne just north of Weatherstone] up to, say, 1st Street, the typical traffic is zero cars going zero miles an hour. Seriously.”

Nagle added, “I walk my dog down the middle of the street in those blocks. I do that because I can, and I do that, because on some of those blocks, there are no sidewalks.”

Virginia Southern told the board she lives close to Hawthorne and that she bicycles and walks on that street. She said, “Hawthorne is already a greenway—all the paint has worn off where it says ‘greenway,’ but it’s been a greenway a long time.” Southern told the board that when she was head of the neighborhood association, she did not hear complaints about speeding.

When he spoke, current head of the Elm Heights Neighborhood Association, Eric Ost, questioned the cost breakdown of the project.

About the project cost, senior project engineer Neil Kopper said that it was “very much in line with what we were expecting it to cost.” About the fact that E&B paving was the only bidder, Kopper indicated that was not unexpected, adding that E&B Paving has been the low bidder on every neighborhood greenway project that the city has ever done.

In his turn from the public mic, Ost also asked that the board either reject the construction contract or else postpone a vote on it until a meeting in February next year—after Kerry Thomson’s new mayoral administration has had a chance to consider the project.

In that request, Ost was essentially asking the board of public works to follow the city council’s recent move to reject a purchase offer for the 3rd Street police station,  and the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s non-decision on the construction contracts for the Showers West renovation.

When those questions were considered, Thomson herself weighed in on the Zoom video-conferencing platform for the city council meeting and the redevelopment commission meeting. Thomson asked for a delay on those decisions. She did not attend Tuesday’s board of public works meeting.

Responding to the idea that the next administration should have a say in whether the project moves forward, Kopper said during Tuesday’s meeting, “I think some of the push to defer is to allow the new administration to weigh in. I just wanted to assure you that the new administration will still be able to weigh in on this project.”

Kopper continued, “So we, as staff, would not be able, and would not want to, issue notice to proceed on the project until after they have been in office and able to weigh in on the project.”

One issue mentioned at the public mic on Tuesday was whether the greenway design complies with Indiana’s state fire code—which regulates, among other things, the width of fire access roads like city streets.

Kopper indicated at Tuesday’s meeting that he’s not aware of any new information that would indicate the Hawthorne-Weatherstone design is not in compliance with state fire code. Kopper told the board of public works that engineering staff had coordinated with emergency services on the plans.

Indiana’s state fire code starts with the International Fire Code (IFC), which is adopted by reference into Indiana Administrative Code (IAC)—with some amendments. The IFC and IAC both read in part:

503.2.1 Dimensions Fire apparatus access roads shall have an unobstructed width of not less than 20 feet (6096 mm), exclusive of shoulders, except for approved security gates in accordance with Section 503.6, and an unobstructed vertical clearance of not less than 13 feet 6 inches (4115 mm).

The Hawthone-Weatherstone greenway design calls for bump outs that reduce the road width for short stretches to 18 feet, two feet narrower than the width specified in the code.

Responding to an emailed question from The B Square, Kopper pointed to a section of the IFC (International Fire Code) that allows modification of the 20-foot standard:

503.2.2 Authority. The fire code official shall have the authority to require or permit modifications to the required access widths where they are inadequate for fire or rescue operations or where necessary to meet the public safety objectives of the jurisdiction.

Kopper also wrote that the engineering department had worked with local fire officials on the design. Part of the context, Kopper wrote, includes the fact that a low-volume, residential street is different from an arterial road with tall buildings, or a primary emergency response route.

Kopper also pointed out that Bloomington’s local code on obstructing traffic  pegs the minimum width at 12 feet: “No person shall park any vehicle upon a street, other than an alley, in such a manner or under such conditions as to have available less than twelve feet of the width of the roadway for free movement of vehicular traffic.”

Kopper also wrote that parked cars on either side of the street would take up a similar width as the bumpouts, but parked cars would not be expected to have a negative impact on emergency services access.

But the corresponding section of the Indiana Administrative Code (IAC), gives a different wording for the section cited by Kopper. Instead of giving a fire official the authority to modify the regulation, the different wording addresses only an increase in the required width.

503.2.2 Authority Vertical clearances or widths required by this section shall be increased when vertical clearances or widths do not provide fire apparatus access for the largest vehicle available to the servicing fire department.

The apparent explanation for the difference in the wording is that the adoption of the IFC into Indiana Administrative Code amends the wording of the IFC:

(f) Amend Section 503.2.2 to delete the text and insert the following: Vertical clearances or widths required by this section shall be increased when vertical clearances or widths do not provide fire apparatus access for the largest vehicle available to the servicing fire department.

Kopper responded to a followup question by pointing out that the same kind of amendment had altered the wording of IFC Section 503.4, which says: “Traffic calming devices shall be prohibited unless approved by the fire code official.”

The amended wording in the Indiana Administrative Code says that “Traffic calming devices installed on fire department access roads shall accommodate all navigational requirements of the largest piece of apparatus available to the servicing fire department, in accordance with Section 503.2.”

Section 503.2 includes the requirement that roads be at least 20 feet wide.

Kopper wrote: “I’m hesitant to weigh in on any code interpretations, because I’m not the right person to do that. I will instead note that we did coordinate with the Fire Department and we do believe the traffic calming accommodates all emergency service access.”