Committee advances $2.74 million contract for buffered bike lanes and storm‑pipe repairs on Belle Red to July 15 consent agenda

The Committee of the Whole for Planning and Public Works on Tuesday asked that a $2,739,003 construction contract with A‑1 Landscaping of Snohomish, Washington, be placed on the City Council consent agenda on July 15 for buffered bike lanes and related work along the Belle Red corridor between Westlake and Northeast 30th. Staff said the project will add space for a bike lane, replace degraded stormwater pipe and install ADA ramps.

The project matters because it pairs safety upgrades for people biking with underground stormwater work that staff said is necessary before repaving to avoid early failures. Steve Gibbs, Capital Construction, told the committee crews video‑inspected the existing drainage and identified about "a thousand feet of pipe that we'll be replacing along this route." He said much of the existing corrugated metal pipe is "50 plus years in age" and that many sections "really don't have bottoms in it anymore."

Gibbs described the scope as: buffered bike lanes, storm pipe replacement and ADA ramps, with resurfacing after subsurface work is complete. The replacement material was described as PVC or high‑density poly pipe with an expected service life of roughly "50 years," he said.

Council members pressed staff on the project contingency and right‑of‑way impacts. Council Member Fields called the contingency "very large compared to the overall contract" and asked what risks justified it; Gibbs said the contingency increased after the project team removed an additive alternate to complete work through Bellevue, and that funds that had been budgeted for that short Bellevue segment returned to contingency. Gibbs said the Bellevue stretch "was approaching a million dollars just for that short stretch to go through the intersection." He also said the city normally budgets about 15–25% contingency for fairly straightforward projects but that this project's contingency was higher because of the Bellevue change and the subsurface work.

Council President Kritzert asked whether the work would require tree removal if the project stays within the existing curb‑to‑curb width; Gibbs said, "That's that's correct. The trees are safe on this 1." On cross‑jurisdictional work, Gibbs said staff and the project manager have been coordinating with Bellevue's transportation staff on permits and connections but that the Bellevue section exceeded the budgeted estimate and therefore was not awarded. He said Bellevue would have the opportunity to complete that connector.

This item is scheduled to return on the July 15 consent agenda; committee members raised no formal objections.

Planning and public‑works staff emphasized that the underground work is intended to prevent returning to dig up a newly overlaid roadway within a few years, and that the pairing of bike lanes with the pipe replacement is deliberate to avoid duplicate disruptions to the corridor.