The Mount Vernon City Council approved two projects to go out for bids this fall.
The first is slated improvements to the bridge on the west end of town that crosses the railroad along First Street.
There were no public comments on the project at the hearing or beforehand.
City administrator Chris Nosbisch said his concern is that traffic could be impacted, depending on when construction on the bridge is finished, as the project will be doing maintenance to the underside of the First Street bridge.
“We won’t know how long the road is closed and traffic is rerouted until work on the project gets started,” Nosbisch said. “Traffic will be redirected to Scobey Road and Eighth Avenue.”
The railroad will be working on the Eighth Avenue crossing this week as well.
The cost of the project is estimated at $80,000, and the city had budgeted $175,000 for it out of franchise fees.
Nosbisch said it is a project the city does need to complete, as repairs have been noted to be made. The project has been delayed because of working with Union Pacific for the needed right of ways.
When it came to the cold storage buildings at Bryant Road, the council was seeking bids for potentially two buildings to be built next spring or summer. The project will have a bid alternate for contractors who can get the work completed by Dec. 1 of this year.
“We expect that we may get bids from contractors interested who may not have all the materials available,” Nosbisch said. “We don’t want to alienate potential bidders, and the project is not one we need completed this winter.”
The projects will allow many of the public works department fleet to be stored in cold storage out of the elements, which will help many of the vehicles better weather the winter.
The project has an estimate of $500,000, but the hope is bids come in low enough that the city is able to build two cold storage buildings for about the same cost off what one larger building would cost.
City crews will help with concrete work needed at the site with any bidders as well.
Anticipated bid openings are scheduled in early September and work potentially starting at that point.