Bloomington council advances $12.9 million downtown streetscape plan after contractor negotiations

The Bloomington City Council on July 14 voted to move forward with a multi‑phase downtown streetscape project after staff and the low bidder negotiated scope reductions intended to bring the work within the city’s funding plan. The project team told council the negotiated package reduces the original bid by about $4.8 million and would cost about $12.9 million in total, with a $2 million state grant offsetting most of the price tag.

City Manager JB Jurgens and Deputy City Manager Billy Tice told council the work is largely infrastructure: water main and lead service‑line replacements, storm drainage, fiber conduit and other underground work. “Seventy‑six percent of the dollars that would be spent on this phase would be for infrastructure,” Tice said, and staff said some drainage work would also address flooding in West Bloomington and Central City…