Council approves North Grand crossing plans and awards contract to POP Excavating

Charles City approved final plans and specifications for the North Grand Avenue railroad crossing and awarded the contract to POP Excavating on motions carried by the council.

City staff explained the project will reconstruct roughly one block of North Grand, narrowing the roadway, installing curb and gutter, replacing railroad crossing materials and signals, and upgrading utilities. "What we'll do is actually narrow up the street, put in curb and gutter to really define that crossing," staffer John said, adding the project also includes a new 12-inch water main to replace the existing 4-inch main and sanitary sewer lining.

Two bidding addenda were issued during permitting with the Iowa DNR; one required ductile-iron pipe with nitrile gaskets to avoid contamination from a leaking underground storage tank plume, staff said. Bids opened recently with POP Excavating the low bidder at $512,311 versus an engineer estimate of about $415,000. John said higher mobilization and other line items accounted for the difference.

Funding is a mix: the street and signal work is covered by Section 130 federal funds, while water and sewer components (about $195,000) will be paid from the city's water and sewer funds rather than the general fund. "The sewer and water cost that told us about $195,000 ... that's going to be at the city's cost," John said.

Council members asked about schedule and oversight; staff said a pre-construction meeting is scheduled the week after award and the engineer will attend pre-con meetings and monitor construction. The council voted to approve Resolution 2926 (final plans) and Resolution 3026 (contract and bond) and to award the North Grand contract to POP Excavating.

The council did not receive oral or written public comments during the hearing. The next procedural step is pre-construction coordination and execution of the contract so work can proceed this summer.