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Isanti County moves to expand County Road 5 project; change order contingent on state approval and ARPA local match
Summary
The board approved proceeding with a change order to add resurfacing of County Road 5 between the railroad tracks and Highway 65 to a joint roundabout project with the City of Isanti, contingent on state grant eligibility and use of ARPA funds for non‑grant costs.
Isanti County commissioners on July 1 voted to proceed with a change order to expand the County Road 5 roundabout project with the City of Isanti to include resurfacing from the railroad tracks to Trunk Highway 65. The board’s approval is contingent on state confirmation that the added work is eligible for Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) grant funding and on using previously allocated ARPA funds as the county’s local match for any non‑grant eligible costs.
County highway engineer Justin Bergerson told the board that bids opened June 17 and the apparent low bid for the roundabout base contract was about $1.1 million, well below the engineer’s estimate of $1.6 million. Because the bid was favorable, staff and the city engineer proposed a change order to add resurfacing work the project had originally omitted for funding reasons. Bergerson presented a change‑order dollar estimate of roughly $496,859 based on the contract unit prices.
“These proposed plan revisions allow the county and city to address both the roundabout improvements and corridor resurfacing in a cost‑effective manner while fully utilizing the grant dollars available,” Bergerson said during the presentation.
The project is supported by a $1.5 million LRIP award to the City of Isanti; the county described the cost share arrangement as historically one‑third city to two‑thirds county for project costs. The county has earmarked up to $450,000 in ARPA funds for this project; staff said ARPA would be used to cover non‑grant eligible costs and that other county road funds could be used if large overruns occur.
Commissioner Christiansen moved to approve proceeding with change order No. 1, contingent on state approval of grant eligibility and contingent use of the county ARPA allocation to cover non‑grant eligible costs; Commissioner Westerberg seconded. Commissioners voted “aye” and the motion carried.
Bergerson said construction planning anticipates work starting in August with the city of Isanti leading contractor scheduling and that the county and city would post traffic and closure information to notify residents in advance. He noted that grade‑separated crossings (overpass/underpass) were considered infeasible in this corridor and were not part of the recommendation.
The board did not adopt a final construction schedule during the meeting; staff will finalize schedule details with the contractor and the city and post closure/detour information when available.
