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City of Missoula, Montana Item to be Referred to City Council Committee Committee: Conservation Item: Milwaukee Railroad Path – Missoula, Consultant Services for Engineering and Construction Management Date: 12-11-09 Prepared by: Dave Shaw – Parks & Recreation Initiated by: Dave Shaw Action Required: Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign an agreement with WGM Group, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $183,018 for professional services, including design through construction administration, for Project #PR11-09MT, Milwaukee Railroad Path- Missoula Russell to Reserve CTEP #STPE8199(66). Recommended Motion: I move the City Council Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign an agreement with WGM Group, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $183,018 for professional services, including design through construction administration, for Project #PR11-09MT, Milwaukee Railroad Path- Missoula Russell to Reserve CTEP #STPE8199(66). Timeline: Referral to committee: 12-10-09 Committee discussion: 12-21-09 Council action: 12-21-09 Background and Alternatives Explored: The Milwaukee Road was a rail line that passed through the heart of Missoula for many years and connected a string of cities and towns from Chicago to Seattle. The entire rail bed was officially abandoned by the rail road in the 1970’s and the old grade has been divided up between local public and private holders. Missoula currently owns a portion of the Milwaukee Road and uses it as a major part of its non-motorized transportation system. These portions are known as the Kim Williams Trail, the Ron McDonald Riverfront Trail south-side and the Milwaukee Trail. Presently, the trail ends at Russell Street and a short portion of the trail exists between Davis Street and Grove Street crossing under Reserve Street. The goal of this project is to close the gap between Russell Street and Reserve Street and open a public non-motorized corridor. Parks has recently completed acquisition of all the easements necessary to build this segment of trail and is now ready to move the project into design and construction. This project has been in the CIP for multiple years and has secured funding from CTEP, the 1995 Open Space Bond and the 2006 Open Space Bond. This project is listed in the "Recommended Improvement Plan" in the 2004 Urban Transportation Plan Update, it has been approved in the ---PAGE BREAK--- TIP, it is specifically mentioned in the 2001 Non-Motorized Transportation Plan, and it is strongly supported by the Master Parks Plan and the Open Space Plan. Further, this project is addressed in the 2002 River Road/Emma Dickinson Infrastructure Plan (please see attached excerpts from the plan). This neighborhood has nearly reached complete build-out before the non-motorized infrastructure was constructed which has made acquisition for this project particularly difficult. Based on major increases in construction costs and especially high increases in land values this project could cost two to three times what was originally anticipated. For this reason additional CTEP and Open Space funding has been secured to fund construction. Alternatives Explored: Preferred Alternative – Acquire trail right-of-way along or near the old Milwaukee Road from Russell to Reserve Streets as planned by the Parks Department. (see map) Alternative 1 – Create a non-motorized trail along Wyoming Street in a landscaped median or as a separate facility on one side of the street. Alternative 2 – Create bike lanes on Wyoming with safe trail or bike lane connections on Catlin and Davis Streets. (least desirable) Alternative 3 – Use River Road as the access rather than Wyoming. Per community input and planning processed it is preferred that ultimately a recreation trail will follow the Clark Fork River and the paved commuter route will follow the Milwaukee. Financial Implications: This project was originally submitted as a CIP request in an FY06 and has been updated for the FY09 CIP cycle (see attached CIP). The project will draw from CTEP and 1995 & 2006 Open Space Bonds. Attachments: Consultant Service Agreement Exhibit A – Milwaukee Road Proposed Route FY09 CIP Request