3rd Street sidewalk needs $86K fence fix—cost jumps for full rebuild

It will take another month before the sidewalk along the north side of 3rd Street from Walnut Street up to the B-Line Trail is open again.

It’s already been closed by Bloomington’s public works department since around February, due to the structural failure of the fencing and railing that is meant to prevent pedestrians from falling into the street from a height of around 15 feet.

But at Tuesday night’s (July 29) meeting of Bloomington’s board of public works, the three-member group got a briefing that included a new timeline, after approving a contract increase with Specialties Company from $17,500 to $86,500—a fivefold jump.

According to public works staff, the increase in the contract does not include fees to expedite the work. Instead, the much bigger cost is due to an increase in the sheer scope of the project. The previous contract called for 20 new vertical posts to be installed. The revised contract calls for 100.

The original contract called for replacement of the pieces of fencing that had already fallen. The new contract calls for replacement of all of the fencing on both sides of the sidewalk that runs along the north side of the street.

In the time since the original inspection was done, according to the staff memo from public works streets division director Joe VanDeventer, more repairs were identified as necessary “due to immediate safety hazard for citizens.”

In the month since The B Square last visited the area, additional panels of fencing had fallen on both sides of the sidewalk. Another visible change on July 29 was to the placement of the barricades on either end of the sidewalk. They are now wedged snugly between the fencing so that for someone to make it onto the sidewalk would require an above-average display of agility. A new sign zip-tied to the barricade read “TEMPORARILY CLOSED: Supplies have been ordered.”

In early July, public works director Adam Wason told board members that the fencing material had been backordered.

Board members on Tuesday were told that it’s realistic to think that the ordered materials will arrive in three weeks with the work anticipated to take another week after that. That’s the timeline reflected in a revised memo in the meeting information packet, after the board’s Monday work session.