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City unveils interactive infrastructure dashboard showing $181.9M in five‑year projects
Summary
City engineering staff demonstrated a public, interactive map of capital projects the city says totals $181.9 million over the next five years and includes searchable project details, funding sources and timelines.
The City of Bloomington’s engineering department demonstrated a new public dashboard Monday that maps capital projects across the city and offers detailed project pages, funding breakdowns and multi‑year timelines.
Jim Karch, interim director of engineering, gave council members a guided tour of the dashboard, which he said initially lists 88 projects and $181,900,000 in planned work over the next five years. Karch credited GIS technician Aaron Piquet and said the tool will be available from the city’s website and on mobile devices.
Karch said users can click individual projects to see contact information, phase, costs and funding sources, and can filter by year, project type and funding source such as stormwater, motor fuel tax or Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). “The map draws you in right to that location,” Karch said, explaining the drill‑down views.
Why it matters: The dashboard is intended to increase transparency about where and when infrastructure work will occur, and to help residents, businesses and property owners understand funding sources, impacts and schedules.
Notable details and clarifications
- Funding and scope: Karch said the $181.9 million figure reflects projects the engineering team has entered into the dashboard and is intended to cover the city’s capital‑project workload over five years. He noted the water department’s projects are still being prepared for addition.
- State projects: Karch and City Manager Jeff Jurgens clarified the dashboard shows the city’s contribution to larger projects led by the state. For example, the Illinois Route 9 corridor improvement lists an overall cost of about $7 million, but Karch said the city’s contribution is $500,000; the dashboard will show the city’s portion rather than the full state budget for IDOT projects.
- Budget timing and approvals: Karch said some projects slated for 2026 are not yet approved by council but are visible in the dashboard as planned items; staff said the tool is intended to be updated as approvals and bids occur and to serve as a staff project management tool on the back end.
Council feedback and next steps
Council members suggested improving the dashboard’s onboarding for first‑time users and making the splash screen harder to dismiss; Karch said staff would revise the interface and warned some planning estimates will change as bids and council approvals occur.
Karch said the public dashboard can display aerial imagery back to 1940, measure distances, and filter projects by funding source; he said the city plans to expand content to include water, parks and public‑works projects.
Ending
City staff said the tool will be published on the city website for residents to use, and that staff will continue to refine it based on council and public feedback.
