Work should start soon on a downtown renewal project that will create new sidewalks and parking areas on North Main Street.
In a special meeting Tuesday, the City Council approved a bid of $1.72 million from Centennial, a Quad Cities construction firm.
The bid was “slightly under budget,” City Manager Kasey Mitchell said.
The work will be paid for from a grant the city received from the state. The city will provide some matching funds.
Chris Berry, the city’s public works director, said the Centennial bid was the lowest of three the city received.
The work, which is to begin in mid-July, will focus on both sides of Main Street from First Street to Third Street.
Parking areas will be resurfaced, and sidewalks will be rebuilt so that people who park on the street won’t have to step up to reach the sidewalk.
Berry said the engineers for the project consulted with building owners along Main Street to make sure the sidewalk work won’t interfere with access to their buildings.
The project also includes new lighting, railings and ramps.
The work will also extend down West Second Street about a third of the way to Tremont Street.
That section of Second Street is to be repaved, but only the parking areas and not the street itself will be resurfaced on Main Street. Council members had said at an earlier meeting that they didn’t feel the pavement in that area was in bad shape.
Berry said the job is expected to take 10 months, so part of it will be done this construction season and it is to be finished next year.
A pre-construction meeting with the contractor is scheduled Thursday.
The original downtown project called for replacing sidewalks and repaving Main Street, the 100 block of West Second Street and Third Street from Second to Third streets.
But the one bid the city received earlier this year for the project far exceeds the state grant and the city’s available funding, so the council decided to do as much of the work this year as the city can afford.
Berry said once this part of the work is finished, the city will seek further grant funds to complete the project.
