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Town engineer outlines roughly $3.5M plan to improve Greeley Road; council debates sidewalk scope and culvert costs
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Summary
Town engineer Doug Reynolds presented options to repair and improve a 3.2-mile stretch of Greeley Road, estimating roughly $3.5 million for shimming, shoulders and limited sidewalks. Councilors pressed on sidewalk benefits, test borings, culvert constraints and grant options.
Doug Reynolds, the town engineer working for Goral Palmer (to become LJB Inc.), presented preliminary plans and cost estimates for Greeley Road from Main Street to Middle Road.
Reynolds said the project focuses on pedestrian and bicyclist safety and road condition improvements along a 3.2‑mile corridor. “We've been looking at this 3.2 mile stretch of Greeley Road from Main Street to Middle Road, trying to make it safe for pedestrians and bicyclists, improving the condition of the roadway,” he said. He described three primary work elements: targeted sidewalks and curb where warranted, shoulder widening (roughly 2.5 ft on each side), and a drag‑shim and overlay treatment with localized box cuts where the subbase has failed.
Reynolds provided order‑of‑magnitude estimates: a sidewalk section between Main and Valhalla at roughly $200,000 in a slide; shoulder and patching work in separate sections (about $835,000 and $940,000 in the slides), and a base shim‑and‑pave line near $1.2 million. He summarized, “We're just about $3,500,000 for that,” while noting asphalt pricing and scope decisions could change the number.
Councilors probed usage and phasing. Bob Vail asked for an estimate to extend sidewalks down to Twinbrook (previously estimated near $500,000–$600,000) and raised a potential increase in pedestrian demand if a nearby senior housing project (Ocean View) is occupied. Other councilors urged pursuing grants; staff confirmed a state ‘safe passage’ grant application is in for a short sidewalk section from Main to Valhalla and agreed to research federal or DOT funding for expanded segments.
Technical considerations included the need for targeted test borings to locate weak subbase areas; Reynolds recommended borings near visibly distressed sections and in representative sound sections to guide whether box cuts or more extensive reclamation are needed. He cautioned full‑depth reclamation is typically much more expensive and can damage good pavement sections if used indiscriminately; he cited prior local projects that used drag shim and overlay successfully.
Councilors also discussed a previously excluded culvert replacement near Valhalla, which had been pulled from the current scope after bids came back much higher than anticipated (roughly $800,000); staff noted the culvert has not failed but contains complex utilities (forced sewer main, major water line) that raised the earlier bid price.
Next steps: councilors asked staff to develop a final scope and engineering plans, perform test borings, and prepare bid‑ready documents so the town is prepared to pursue grant or stimulus opportunities; the project could be bid in the fall with construction in 2027 or later depending on funding.
