Committee approves $330,000 construction engineering agreement for Route 66 bike trail; county share for engineering about $16,400

The McLean County Land Use Transportation Committee approved a construction engineering services agreement with Cummins Engineering Corporation for the Route 66 Bike Trail (Section 23-00001-06-BT) in a unanimous voice vote.

Jerry Stokes, presenting for the highway department, said the project was an ITAP/ITEP-funded reconstruction of the bike trail from the Village of McLean to Fungs Grove. Construction low bid came in around $3,300,000, above the county's estimate of about $3,000,000, and the county requested additional ITEP funds to cover the increase. An extra $335,000 was awarded to accommodate higher construction and construction-engineering costs, Stokes said. Cummins Engineering — which designed the previous phase — was selected to provide construction engineering services and inspection. The agreement amount discussed was about $330,000; McLean County's portion of the construction-engineering cost is approximately $16,400, representing about 24% of the consortium’s 20% local match based on population.

Committee members raised questions about the scale of the engineering fee for roughly four miles of trail and about staffing shortages. Stokes and other speakers said construction engineering commonly runs near 10% of construction cost and noted an industry-wide shortage of engineers and consultants; the committee acknowledged it may need to discuss filling vacant engineering positions. Stokes outlined that on-site concrete testing and cylinder sampling will be done, with McLean County performing lab testing when staff are available and supplementing with a local material-testing firm if necessary. The committee voted to approve the agreement; Member Ziebarth moved and Member Fagan seconded.