Five years after it was closed due to crumbling concrete and then re-opened with temporary scaffolding, Powell’s Adventure Park tunnel should be repaired properly.
The project is in the process of being tendered, City Manager Andrew White said, as city officials seek to take action on long-delayed infrastructure maintenance and repairs in 2022.
Utilities director Buddy Caplinger said bids were due March 11 and he expects to present the project to council soon after.
The city’s infrastructure needs are being addressed on two specific fronts – the 2022 Street Maintenance Program and a five-year capital improvement plan.
The Adventure Park Tunnel is a pedestrian/bicycle route under the CSX train tracks northwest of Adventure Park. It allows access to the park from the west of the tracks and a path to Sawmill Parkway from the east of the tracks.
The tunnel emerged during a preliminary review of possible projects for CIP in late 2021, but City Council and staff have fast-tracked some items because, as White explained, CIP won’t really fully guide city infrastructure works before 2023.
“We’re already starting to move forward on some of the things that we’ve already identified, particularly the adventure park tunnel,” Mayor Dan Swartwout said.
The remainder of the CIP was discussed as part of the board’s strategic planning session on Feb. 19 and will be presented to the board for formal adoption in the spring, White said.
The preliminary review of what the CIP might look like was presented to the board last November after the work of a board committee comprised of staff, board members and various community stakeholders, led by OHM Advisors, a Michigan-based planning firm with offices in four states, including Ohio.
It included 20 projects, including the reconstruction and/or extension of North and South Depot Streets, Hall Street and Scioto Street; the developments in rue Olentangy; downtown northeast quadrant parking improvements; and renovations to municipal offices.
In addition, council priorities also continue to be shaped by facets of the Keep Powell Moving plan, approved by council in 2016 and focused on ways to improve circulation in the city’s downtown area, Swartwout said. .
White said annual street maintenance will be part of the evolution of CIP, and the city continues to take an aggressive look at street maintenance in 2022.
“While street maintenance will now be part of the CIP, work will certainly be carried out in 2022,” he said.
The city’s engineering department plans to present the 2022 street maintenance program to council on April 5, city spokeswoman Megan Canavan said.
Caplinger said the plan is developed annually based on an ongoing assessment of streets, sidewalks, curbs and sewers. Additionally, in 2021 the city partnered with Pavement Management Group in Heath to develop a street assessment map. An interactive mapcomplete with video, is available in the Engineering Department from the city website.
Caplinger said while the 2022 schedule is not finalized, a lot could be inferred based on those ratings.
“Our priorities need to be clearly defined based on current ratings,” he said.
Not all projects are created equal, Caplinger said, because some might also physically coincide with needed sewer or sidewalk improvements and should therefore be done simultaneously. Still, he said, residents should expect that generally the poorest streets will receive higher priority in the street maintenance schedule.
Both White and Swartwout said such planning is enhanced by the ability to budget more aggressively, a direct result of the city’s income tax rate restructuring approved by voters last spring.
“The city would continue to struggle to maintain streets and infrastructure without (the restructuring),” White said. “The maintenance of existing infrastructure and the realization of new projects were included in the language of the ballot.”
This new revenue stream began in January and will continue to drive the city’s strategic planning, he said.
The city’s street program budget for 2022 is $1.5 million, more than double from previous years, White said.
“Although the CIP will not formally guide our infrastructure priorities until 2023, the public will see the benefits of this planning from 2022,” White said.
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