Improvements in store for Rockwell City square

Rockwell City and Calhoun County officials may be joining forces this spring for an infrastructure improvement project around the courthouse square.

City officials first decided to tackle the project, which includes sanitary sewer, storm sewer and other drainage improvements under the four streets surrounding the courthouse, as well as resurfacing those roads and building new sidewalks and curbs on the sides of the street opposite the courthouse.

That project is estimated to cost the city about $1.7 million, Mayor Phil Heinlen said Wednesday.

“The streets around the square, the west side is almost gravel in spots,” Heinlen said. “It is gravel in spots. … It’s just going to be one heck of an improvement.”

Heinlen acknowledged criticism from some city residents, who point out the increasing number of businesses on High Street, as well as growth toward the four-lane U.S. 20. Those people say the city should focus improvements there.

“You’ve got to take care of what you already have,” Heinlen said.

And now is a good time to do the work, from a financial standpoint, he added.

“When you do a project, you do it when the interest rates look good,” he said.

The county’s Board of Supervisors got its first look at the project, which would have an impact on traffic patterns around the courthouse, at its regular meeting Dec. 9. Engineers from I+S Group, which is drawing up the plans for Rockwell City, presented the preliminary project specifications to supervisors, and asked whether officials had any work they wanted to have done while the area was under construction.

Supervisor Gary Nicholson asked whether the engineers were looking to install sidewalks on the courthouse property.

David Doxtad said they would like to do so, and had discussed that option with city officials, who said the county would need to sign on for that portion of the project. Doxtad said the engineering firm could separate the cost of the sidewalks for the county property from the rest of the work, which the city will pay for.

Adding sidewalks around the courtyard’s perimeter would help make the entire square more accessible under Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, Doxtad added.

“From an ADA standpoint, we’re trying to avoid uncontrolled intersections,” he said.

The existing midblock crosswalk on Main Street is just such an intersection, he added. If the county proceeds with the project, Doxtad said the engineers would likely design ADA-compliant crosswalks with ramps at the corners of the square, and remove the ramps at the middle of the blocks.

Auditor Judy Howry and several supervisors mentioned the need to improve the grades of walkways around the property. Right now, at least one walkway has such poor drainage that water ponds and freezes there each winter, Howry said.

Part of the problem, Doxtad said, is that the streets around the square have been patched so many times, the slopes designed to channel water away from walkways have been completely covered.

Doxtad said he’s hoping to be able to take the project out for bid in March, with an anticipated start date in April or May. Construction would take at least 120 working days, putting the projected completion date in the fall. The plan, he said, is to work on two legs of the four-leg project at a time, to try to mitigate traffic and parking problems.

“If we do it as a two-pronged approach, we don’t think that you’re going to be down that long,” Doxtad said.

That work schedule will conflict with a few scheduled events, Howry said, including Sweet Corn Daze in August and the county fair in July.

Doxtad took note of the dates, and said that was one reason he was meeting with county officials, as well as downtown business owners, last week. He said his firm is reaching out to as many potentially interested organizations as possible, including utility companies, to avoid conflicts when possible, as well as incorporate other projects simultaneously.

“Some (companies) may be interested in replacing older utilities,” he said. “We want as much of the stuff possible to get totally done, so we don’t have 50 patches in our new roadway.”

Doxtad said he would bring a cost estimate for the sidewalk work to the board later this month.