The Lake County Board of Commissioners on an aye vote authorized the Lake County Engineer to execute an agreement with American StructurePoint Inc. for preparation of construction plans and specifications to reconstruct two bridges on Tyler Boulevard (PID 122361) in the City of Mentor, with a design fee not to exceed $548,313.

Lake County Engineer Alan Exley told commissioners the design fee is larger than typical because the work covers two wide-span bridges on a heavily trucked parallel corridor to State Route 2 and includes environmental, cultural-resources, survey and mapping, drainage and geotechnical studies, utility coordination, and more complex maintenance-of-traffic planning. "We're looking at two bridges on Tyler Boulevard," Exley said. "Because of the location and the area that it serves, . . . it's a lot of truck traffic . . . and we'll have to design those for part-width construction so we can keep traffic moving through that area during that construction."

Exley said American StructurePoint will perform the full design scope including subsurface utility investigations to locate utilities physically and reduce construction conflicts. He also explained financing: the county secured 80% federal bridge-formula funding through the County Engineers Association of Ohio and ODOT for the design work and purchased $600,000 in credit-bridge funds from another county (acquired at roughly 50 cents on the dollar) that will supply an additional roughly 15% of the project cost. "For this particular ask, the county engineer's office will only be paying 5%, less than $30,000," Exley said. He estimated combined construction for the two bridges at about $3,000,000 and said construction costs would be covered similarly under the program.

Commissioners voted to authorize the agreement. The clerk recorded the votes as Commissioner Beveridge — Aye; Commissioner Plutchnick — Yes; Commissioner Reykovich — Yes. The motion carried and the contract authorization was approved.

The board did not specify a construction schedule in the motion; Exley described design and preconstruction steps that will precede bidding. The resolution as read named the Lake County Engineer and American StructurePoint Inc., and set the maximum design fee at $548,313.

Provenance: Exley introduced the project and fee during the engineer's office item; the clerk recorded the roll call after discussion.