Effingham staff seek council support for $13M RAISE grant application for Ford Avenue project
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Summary
City staff told the council they will apply for an 80% federal RAISE grant to fund the Ford Avenue project (including a roundabout). Farnsworth estimated total cost at $16.33 million; the city's 20% match would be about $3.26 million to be covered by MFT funds if awarded.
City staff told the Effingham City Council they plan to apply for a nationally competitive RAISE grant to cover the bulk of a proposed Ford Avenue reconstruction that would include a roundabout and complete a connection to Rickleman Avenue.
The city engineer told the council Farnsworth's preliminary estimate for the full project is $16,327,584. At an 80% award level that would amount to roughly $13,000,000 in federal funds, leaving a city local match of about $3,265,517. Staff said the intended source for the local match would be motor fuel tax (MFT) funds. The engineer cautioned the grant is highly competitive and not guaranteed but said the resolution being considered would commit the city to provide the required local match if the grant is awarded.
Council members responded with encouragement. Later on the agenda staff presented a separate MFT-funded engineering services agreement with Farnsworth Group, proposed at $49,274, to study an alternate alignment for Ford Avenue and prepare land-acquisition documents should that alignment be selected.
The resolution on the RAISE application signals the city's support for the grant pursuit and positions staff to continue project planning if federal funds are secured.
