The Clayton Hale Bridge over the Canadian National Railroad tracks in downtown Paxton is closed to the public until further notice. Before it can reopen, structural repairs need to be made to the bridge’s approaches, as suggested following an inspection by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Will Brumleve/Ford County Chronicle
PAXTON — The Paxton City Council will meet in special session at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, to approve the awarding of a contract to Iroquois Paving Corp. of Watseka for additional street work to be completed this year, approve spending an estimated $49,000 on needed work at the wastewater treatment plant, approve a new collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union representing the city’s public works staff, and approve a resolution supporting the city’s application for a Safe Routes to School grant to fund the rehabilitation of a temporarily closed pedestrian bridge downtown.
The council scheduled the special meeting during its monthly meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 9, because approval of three of those items was not listed on the Sept. 9 meeting’s agenda, while the fourth item — the new Teamsters contract — was listed on the agenda for approval but not yet ready for action following a closed session held to discuss it.
Michael Livermore, a senior client advisor for the Clark Dietz engineering firm of Champaign, addressed the council about the other three topics:
Pertaining to the road work, Livermore said bids were due Tuesday, Aug. 26, for the milling and resurfacing of portions of West State Street and West Holmes Street, totaling a little over a quarter-mile. That work is in addition to other roadwork completed already this summer. “The low bidder was Iroquois Paving at a bid of $99,600, which was approximately $1,200 over the engineering estimate, which is well within the 5% that is typically allowed,” Livermore told the council. “We would, therefor, recommend the awarding of that contract to Iroquois Paving so that they can move forward. Their intention, upon the award, is that they will get both the first and the second roadway projects started within the next 30 days, with construction time expected to take approximately 10 to 15 working days and all work completed by the end of October.”
Regarding the wastewater treatment plant project, Livermore said Schomburg & Schomburg Construction of Danville estimated a cost of around $49,000 to replace five broken valves used to drain the plant’s aerators and digesters. Meanwhile, other work still needed includes the replacement of an aging filter control panel that is no longer functional and the replacement of a nonoperational control valve used to limit the flow of wastewater to the excess-flow clarifier.
Regarding the city’s application for a Safe Routes to School grant of $250,000 through the Illinois Department of Transportation to fund the rehabilitation of the temporarily closed Clayton Hale Bridge downtown, Livermore said the council would need to approve a resolution in support of the application, which is due Wednesday, Oct. 15. Livermore said he would draft a proposed resolution and send it to Mayor Bill Ingold within a few days. “The resolution would be stating that the city obligates itself to move forward with the project if, in fact, they are awarded the grant,” Livermore said. “By the special meeting (on Sept. 18), we will have our full cost estimate completed to know if that amount is going to exceed $250,000, as for what the city’s obligation would be. … One of the biggest variables we see in the project is going to be railroad coordination fees, which is going to be close to $50,000.”
As part of the application, Livermore said he was also soliciting letters of support from local school district officials, other key stakeholders in the community and state legislators for the area.
Parents of schoolchildren are also encouraged to complete an online survey — accessible via a link on the city’s website — regarding their kids’ use of the walk bridge. Livermore said the survey was live as of Thursday, Sept. 11, at
https://www.clarkdietz.com/paxton-parent-survey/.
Livermore noted that the Sept. 18 special meeting will include an overview of the project and an opportunity for the public to ask questions.
If awarded, the grant would be used to not only repair the pedestrian bridge over the Canadian National Railroad tracks — named in memory of Clayton Hale, who spent many hours there watching trains go by — but also to add new crosswalk signage and signals to nearby Railroad Avenue and improve the sidewalks there and on West Orleans Street on the other side of the bridge. The grants are available to municipalities to help “substantially improve the ability of students to walk and/or bicycle to and from the schools,” Livermore said in August.
The Clayton Hale Bridge has been closed to the public since April, after an inspection by Jacobs Engineering revealed structural issues with the bridge’s approaches. A followup inspection by Clark Dietz confirmed those same issues.
“The bearings under the bridge … have fully deteriorated,” Livermore said in August. “The abutment walls also need some reinforcement. Drainage aspects of the bridge around those abutments need to be addressed.”
While the 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.
“The bridge is the only dedicated pedestrian crossing of the Canadian National Railroad within Paxton and directly serves the students enrolled in the Paxton-Buckley-Loda school district,” said a sample template of a letter of support. “Its closure has forced students to rely on alternative crossings that present significant safety concerns due to heavy traffic, complex intersections, and/or a lack of pedestrian signaling. … Restoring the Clayton Hale Pedestrian Bridge will provide a safe, direct pedestrian route across the railroad tracks; encourage walking and biking to school, supporting healthier and more active lifestyles; reduce traffic congestion around schools by offering safe alternatives to vehicle travel; (and) improve overall community connectivity and accessibility.”