Cost of sewer upgrade at site of Bloomington convention center expansion to be negotiated, traffic plan for construction OK'd

Near 3rd Street, between College Avenue and Walnut Street, the flow of traffic, as well as sanitary sewer sludge, will soon be taking a slightly altered course—because of the start of the convention center expansion project.

Motorists headed east in the southern lane of 3rd Street past the Bloomington Convention Center will have no choice but to turn right (south) at College Avenue. That's because only the northern east-bound lane of 3rd Street will remain open for the convention center construction, which will be placed on the block where the former NAPA Auto Parts store stands. The former NAPA building, which more recently served as election operations for Monroe County, is now set to be knocked down starting July 7.

Starting as soon as next week, on Friday (June 27), people who walk south on College Avenue past the Atlas Ballroom, and farther past the current Bunger & Robertson law office building, will be able to resume their southward pedestrian journey, even after they cross 3rd Street.

But because of the convention center expansion project, their path won't continue on the sidewalk. Instead, it will use the roadway, protected from traffic with concrete or water-filled barriers.

The lane closure on 3rd Street, and the 5-foot pedestrian walk-arounds, are just two of the features of the construction project's maintenance of traffic (MOT) plan, that was approved by Bloomington's board of public works at its meeting on Wednesday night.

In other convention center construction news on Wednesday, Monroe County's capital improvement board (CIB) got a briefing from the civil engineer for the expansion project. The briefing included a request from city of Bloomington utilities (CBU) to upsize a sanitary sewer pipe that runs east-west near what will be the southern edge of the planned expansion building.

Bill Riggert with Bledsoe Riggert Cooper & James, the civil engineering firm on the project, described the sewer-related issue as having been brought up by CBU "at the last minute."

The current pipe measures 18 inches. That's under capacity for the amount of flow coming from the west side of the city, according to CBU, so the utility is looking to get the pipe upsized to 24 inches. The expansion project will be constructing a ramp, among other improvements, on top of the sewer line.

If the pipe has to be upsized after the convention center project is built and has started operation, the sewer project would completely shut down the convention center, Riggert said. That's because there would be no access to the loading dock to the far west or to the kitchen. Upsizing now should be a long-term solution, Riggert said. He put it like this: "It should last our lifetime, I would think, and maybe some of the younger people's lifetime as well."

Following up on Riggert's remarks, Deb Kunce, who is with JS Held, the owner's representative for the project, told CIB members, "I think we're all in agreement this is probably the right step." She added, "The question is, we need more time to work through the final design and how the funding of this is going to work." Kunce indicated that the funding of the sewer project would be the subject of negotiation.

The question of who pays was of interest to CIB members. CIB member Jay Baer indicated he understands the reason that CBU wants the pipe to be upsized, adding, "I just struggle to understand how that is our responsibility to pay for it, however."

CIB member Geoff McKim said he appreciates the fact that there would be a negotiation, adding that he hopes that CBU will pay a substantial percentage of the cost. Still, McKim said, the worst possible scenario would be to shut down the convention center sometime in the future, if CBU needs to upsize the sewer pipe. McKim called any amount that the CIB would pay "insurance" against a shutdown of the convention center in the future, just to make the sewer pipe bigger.

CIB chair John Whikehart said that in no case would any cost for the sewer come out of the $52 million of bond proceeds for the project, but would instead have to come out of the difference between the $70 million total project budget and the bond proceeds, possibly out of the "soft cost" budget.