PAXTON — Regardless of whether Paxton leaders can convince state officials to award a $250,000 grant toward needed repairs to the temporarily closed Clayton Hale Bridge, Mayor Bill Ingold wants to see the work done and the pedestrian bridge reopened — and soon.
“It’s been a valuable thing for as long as I can remember,” Ingold said Thursday, Sept. 4, as he continued to work with engineers to gather the lists of information required for the city’s Safe Routes to School Program grant application, which must be submitted to the Illinois Department of Transportation by Wednesday, Oct. 15.
“It’s kind of neat just to have the walk bridge, and I know a lot of people use it,” Ingold continued. “But the schoolchildren are at the top of the list, so we want to make sure that we’ve got this (bridge) available for them and it’s a safe way for them to get to school. So it’s high on our list to get it done. … I’d like to get it done. I do want to get it done.”
The Clayton Hale Bridge over the Canadian National Railroad tracks in downtown Paxton — as it appeared Thursday, Sept. 4 — remains closed to the public until further notice.
Ingold said he spoke Wednesday, Sept. 3, with Michael Livermore, a senior client advisor for the Clark Dietz engineering firm of Champaign, about the grant application process, and Ingold left the meeting with a list of “15 things” that were recommended as part of that process, including the submission of surveys about walking and biking to school, which will be available for parents to complete online, and surveys sent to specific stakeholders like local school district officials and the parents of Mr. Hale, in whose memory the bridge is named.
“I’ve already talked to Larry and Diane Hale and told them I’ll be sending them one of these, because they obviously would have a vested interest in this,” Ingold said.
The application process will also involve another kind of survey, whereby engineers or the mayor will station themselves by Paxton-Buckley-Loda schools at arrival and dismissal times to track the number of students walking or riding bikes to and from school compared with the number being dropped off and picked up by busses or their parents’ vehicles, for example.
Ingold said he had “no idea” how quickly all of the work would be done and the city’s application sent to IDOT, but he said progress was already being made. Ingold credited the help of Livermore and other Clark Dietz staff, who were in the process of setting up the website for the parent survey as Ingold continued Thursday to work on his list of other tasks.
“He’s doing an excellent job of shouldering a lot of the load for me, getting it done,” Ingold said. “Putting this website together is going to be a big deal, because, that way, we don’t have to have (paper surveys) coming in, going out, this kind of stuff. This way, people are able to sit home at night, fill out the paperwork (on their phone or computer) and just hit ‘send,’ and it just goes to (the engineers) and then they’re able to share it with the ICC (Illinois Commerce Commission) and IDOT and everybody else.”
The Clayton Hale Bridge has been closed to the public since April, after an inspection by Jacobs Engineering revealed structural issues with the pedestrian bridge’s approaches. A followup inspection by Clark Dietz confirmed those same issues.
With engineers having advised Ingold that “the bridge itself — the structure itself — is in very, very good condition,” he said the plan is to use the $250,000 grant, if awarded, to make repairs to preserve its longevity, rather than replace it.
“The problem is on the abutments and the approaches to the bridge, and so that’s what needs the work,” Ingold said. “So that’s where the focus is going to be — on that.”
In August, Livermore presented three options for returning the bridge to use, ranging in estimated construction costs from $15,000 for “short-term emergency repairs” to $125,000 for “longterm rehabilitation” of the existing bridge to $500,000 or more for the “complete replacement” of the bridge. Livermore, who recommended “longterm rehabilitation” over the other two options, noted that engineering fees were not included in his estimates.
If awarded the $250,000 grant, Ingold said, the city should be able to avoid the use of its own funds to complete the project, Ingold said, with the possible exception of engineering fees. Livermore last month estimated a $20,000 fee just for his firm’s work in applying for the grant, not anything else.
“I’m going to guess that probably some of the engineering is going to come out of the city’s pocket,” Ingold said.
In addition to repairs to the bridge’s approaches, the project also would involve adding new sidewalks and crosswalk signage and signals to nearby Railroad Avenue, Ingold said. Livermore said such additions to the project could improve Paxton’s chances of being awarded a grant.
Last month, IDOT announced the opportunity for municipalities and school districts in Illinois to apply for Safe Routes to School Program grants of up to $250,000 to go toward the planning, design and construction of infrastructure projects within two miles of K-12 schools that would “substantially improve the ability of students to walk and/or bicycle to and from the schools.” The grants are expected to be awarded next spring.
While the Clayton Hale Bridge remains closed, the crossing guard normally stationed near it on Railroad Avenue has been relocated a block south to the intersection of Patton Street and Railroad Avenue.
Mr. Hale died at age 26 on Feb. 12, 2015, following a long battle with cancer. Mr. Hale loved trains, classic cars, monster trucks, the outdoors and the Christmas holiday season. He would often spend hours on the Orleans Street pedestrian bridge — which was named in his honor in June 2015 — waiting for trains to pass underneath.