Commissioners approve United Consulting contract for Toyota perimeter road phase and seek Community Crossings funding

County road officials proposed carrying out the Toyota perimeter road project in two phases and asked the commissioners to approve a contract with United Consulting to manage design, inspection and project administration.

The project area includes Tool Tree Drive (listed as the initial phase), and roads described in the presentation as 525 South, 100 East and 350 South. Officials said the Redevelopment Commission (RDC) had approved the overall project previously and allocated funding from the Toyota TIF for project costs.

Superintendent Matt (Highway Department) said the county will submit the project to the state’s Community Crossings program, which reopened for applications Oct. 1, and that competition for funding has increased; staff expect hundreds of millions in requests statewide for a far smaller award total. Officials said the Toyota project, which carries high traffic counts (about 11,000 vehicles per day), should score well in the Community Crossings process.

County staff presented a contract with United Consulting to perform engineering and full-time inspection. The contract amount was reported to be within the RDC-allocated authorization for such work. A commissioner moved to approve the contract; another commissioner seconded the motion. The motion carried and staff were authorized to execute the contract.

Officials said the county intends to complete the bulk of the mill-and-overlay work during a scheduled shutdown period to minimize traffic impacts, while coordinating logistics closely with Toyota and its vendors. Staff also noted contingencies and built-in allowances from the original RDC allocation to account for price escalation since the project was first approved several years ago.