At Monday's (February 6) City Council meeting, Councilors heard a presentation about possible changes to the rail crossing at Yankee Valley Boulevard.

Engineering Services Team Leader Bob Neale presented two possibilities at the meeting: a road over rail option and a road under rail option. Ultimately, Neale recommended that the road under the rail option was the better choice for a number of reasons, including cost.

"At this point, the functional planning study estimated cost was around $35 million."

Neale explained that the funding for the project would come through a combination of levys, acreage assessments and grants.

According to Neale, the functional planning study will be done in 2017, with detailed design coming in 2018. Then in 2019, utilities in the area would be relocated so construction on the process could be done during 2020. During the construction, Yankee Valley Boulevard would also be widened to six lanes.

"Some of that scheduling and actual timing will be better fleshed out as we go through the detailed design and then get a contractor involved to see what challenges and opportunities are available."

When the project does get up and running, Neal says there's a plan in place to keep traffic moving.

"Essentially, we're going to build a temporary road to the south while we work on the project, and then that'll be removed once the project is complete."

The city will be holding a public information session at the Genesis Place Rotary Room from 4:00-8:00pm on February 22.

 

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