[0:00] So, I guess uh it's just after 11, so I

[0:03] guess we'll get going with this week's

[0:05] update. I'm sharing my screen. So,

[0:08] welcome to the update on the Fernon

[0:10] Avenue and Highway 100 interchange

[0:12] project meeting number 11. And we're

[0:14] recording this and it'll be posted uh

[0:17] later on. So, no Chad this week. He's

[0:20] out on PTO, but my name is Derek

[0:22] Houston. Uh I'm the project

[0:24] representative for this

[0:31] So once again, just want to thank

[0:33] everyone for their patience. Uh we know

[0:35] there's a lot of traffic out there. Just

[0:37] want to remind everyone businesses are

[0:39] open and accessible. Uh there's going to

[0:41] be noise, dust, vibrations, and other

[0:43] construction related stuff going on. And

[0:46] please, please, please stop for

[0:47] pedestrians in the crosswalks and be

[0:49] courteous to fellow drivers.

[0:52] Um, just a reminder, we recommend using

[0:54] the crosswalk at Vernon and Eden instead

[0:56] of the Eden midblock crossing. Could be

[0:59] safer when there's busy traffic.

[1:02] So, project goals and timeline. I go

[1:05] over this every week, but it's always

[1:06] nice to touch on. Uh, improved safety

[1:08] and mobility for all users. uh separate

[1:11] pedestrian routes, improve traffic

[1:13] operations, consolidate Highway 100

[1:16] access points,

[1:18] uh improve connectivity between

[1:20] residential and commercial areas of the

[1:22] district, uh and enhance viability with

[1:27] improved access.

[1:31] So here once again, it's just an

[1:32] overview of the project. We've got over

[1:35] here on the left hand side of the

[1:37] screen, uh this is the Interlock and

[1:38] Vernon intersection. over the railroad

[1:42] uh all the way over 100 ramps associated

[1:45] with that and over towards the green

[1:47] road.

[1:51] And so, right, if you're here, uh,

[1:52] you're with us on some communications.

[1:55] Um, but there's a bunch of other good

[1:56] resources we have like better together.

[1:59] Um,

[2:01] and we've been doing press releases,

[2:03] different email updates,

[2:06] updating our website.

[2:11] So, getting into construction. So, the

[2:14] intersection at Interlockan and Vernon

[2:16] is largely done right now. Uh traffic is

[2:20] flowing about how was described on here.

[2:22] There's they poured back concrete median

[2:25] in this area. Um so right now on Vernon

[2:29] it's separated depending if you're going

[2:31] eastbound or westbound, but it's still a

[2:33] free flowing turn here.

[2:40] And now I know this is an update that

[2:41] lots of people are interested in. Uh the

[2:44] Excel power line update. Um, long story

[2:48] short is there's not a whole lot of

[2:49] progress on this. Um,

[2:52] we know that Excel and the railroad and

[2:55] their permitting are communicating, but

[2:59] there's still no permit to the state.

[3:01] So, it is it is a major impact to the

[3:04] schedule and cost and it's something the

[3:06] project team is very concerned about.

[3:08] Um, so we're trying to keep you in the

[3:10] loop with the best we know and that

[3:12] really is all we know at this point.

[3:14] Great. original agreement was for an

[3:16] overhead line and this is obviously

[3:19] buried here. This was from back in May.

[3:23] So, it's big concern of the project. Um,

[3:27] we're going to keep moving forward and

[3:29] we're still pushing them, doing

[3:30] everything we can, but it's really

[3:31] between Excel and the railroad that we

[3:36] don't have much much we can do there.

[3:42] So, moving on to what our configuration

[3:45] is right now. So, this is uh 28th. We

[3:49] closed the northbound ramp onto 100 off

[3:52] of Graange and it's still like that

[3:54] today. They're working over there and

[3:56] installing noise post, noise wall posts

[3:58] as we speak.

[4:01] [Music]

[4:05] And so, we've been getting a lot of

[4:06] concerns about the traffic over at

[4:09] Benton Avenue. It's uh how a lot of

[4:11] people are getting on to northbound

[4:14] and we've heard your concerns and we are

[4:15] taking steps to address it.

[4:19] The Benton Avenue ramp. So there's a

[4:21] meter right here and we initially two

[4:24] weeks ago we updated it to increase the

[4:26] volume that it would allow onto the

[4:28] freeway.

[4:30] And we just call I talked to MDOT again

[4:32] this morning. They're going to up it

[4:33] again today. And with school starting

[4:36] next week, we're going to continue to

[4:37] monitor and see if we can make any

[4:39] adjustments.

[4:42] Um,

[4:45] I understand that traffic is backing up

[4:47] a lot into the neighborhoods and we are

[4:49] exploring anything we can do

[4:52] over there to to alleviate some of that

[4:54] congestion.

[4:59] Another topic we've been hearing a lot

[5:00] about is the construction on Highway 100

[5:03] between oops, I should say 77th and 50th

[5:06] Street. I just want to iterate that this

[5:09] is a Mindot project and it's not related

[5:11] to our work at the Vernon interchange.

[5:13] Uh they're doing some overhead sign work

[5:16] and they've reduced the lanes. They've

[5:19] taken the center lane out uh northbound

[5:21] and southbound. Part of that is because

[5:23] it's an overhead sign, it's sitting on

[5:25] the median. So in order to get at it

[5:29] and they need to have the lane going

[5:30] both way closed.

[5:33] So this is a mindot project and it's

[5:35] anticipated to last until September 3rd.

[5:38] You can see updates from that from mind

[5:41] 511. Got their website here.

[5:44] And

[5:47] if you want to reach out to Mindot, you

[5:48] can reach out to their public affairs um

[5:50] and they might be able to give you u

[5:53] more updates.

[5:56] Oh, one thing I did want to touch on is

[5:58] I know people are saying, you know, the

[6:00] lane is up, the lane closure is up all

[6:02] the time. Something to keep in mind is

[6:04] that it costs money every time you put

[6:06] it up and take it down. So, I'm sure

[6:08] that's one of their considerations in

[6:10] leaving it up.

[6:15] So this week we've got the 50th and

[6:19] Graange intersection closed right here

[6:21] and it's just for Wednesday through

[6:23] Friday this week. They're doing a big

[6:26] pull for the water man, new water man

[6:28] that's going under Highway 100. So this

[6:32] intersection is closed, but everyone can

[6:34] take the detour on Eden. If you're

[6:36] coming off the northbound ramp, you're

[6:38] just going to be funneled straight over

[6:39] to Eden to get where you're going. And

[6:42] you can see in this picture in the

[6:44] bottom right here, this is actually HDP

[6:48] casing that's laid out all the way past

[6:51] city hall that they're going to pull

[6:53] through with directional bore. So

[6:56] they're going to pull it from this side

[6:57] over all the way on the other side of

[6:59] 100.

[7:01] And that'll go through Friday.

[7:05] It'll be up to normal normal operations

[7:08] after that.

[7:10] City Hall is still accessible. Please

[7:12] use the Eden Avenue or Graange

[7:15] entrances.

[7:20] I think we alluded to this a little bit

[7:21] last time, but we're getting ready to do

[7:23] some more ramp work and ramp closures.

[7:25] Uh so we're still trying to nail down

[7:27] the date with the contractor, but it' be

[7:29] either September 8th or 15th is the

[7:31] tenative plan. That'd be closing the

[7:34] northbound off-ramp and the southbound

[7:36] off-ramp. Um, so we're expecting a lot

[7:40] of traffic to get diverted elsewhere,

[7:42] including Benton Avenue. We're going to

[7:44] continue to monitor that situation, see

[7:46] if there's anything we can do to improve

[7:48] it.

[7:50] Um, one thing to note is that the

[7:53] southbound ramp, southbound on-ramp will

[7:56] remain open.

[7:59] And coming up in the first week of

[8:01] September, there's some night work

[8:03] planned. Uh, they're going to be setting

[8:05] beams for the bridge. So, that's really

[8:06] exciting.

[8:08] Uh they're thinking they'll do

[8:09] northbound first. Uh so it take two

[8:12] nights for them to set the girders and

[8:14] then they'll switch over and do the

[8:16] southbound for another two nights. Uh

[8:18] it's notable that that'll be a regional

[8:21] detour where it'll go instead of going

[8:24] through Highway 100, you'll go 169 to

[8:27] 394 and 62.

[8:34] So going on this week in the area as

[8:37] well. This is not related to our

[8:38] project. It's related to building here

[8:41] at 5100 Eden. It's being redeveloped by

[8:44] the Opus. Um they are putting up jersey

[8:48] barrier and fencing along this side of

[8:50] the street. And so the pedestrian detour

[8:53] is going around and along Arcadia

[8:56] they're adding a temporary sidewalk

[8:58] there. So I saw them this morning. their

[9:00] paving. I'm expecting that to get

[9:02] wrapped up soon.

[9:07] Now, on to some pictures. Uh, it's my

[9:09] favorite part, showing you all the

[9:10] updates. I know upper left here, this

[9:13] was back when they were still forming

[9:16] the footing maybe two months ago. And

[9:20] then down here at the bottom,

[9:22] it's as if it's partially completed. And

[9:25] over at the right here, this was taken

[9:26] yesterday.

[9:28] uh abutment is substantially complete

[9:31] here. Uh they've stripped all their

[9:32] forms. You can see the retaining wall in

[9:34] the background. Got Dean over here on

[9:36] the right. Hawthorne Court over here.

[9:40] They're starting to backfill. You can

[9:42] see this excavator is actually right

[9:44] behind the abupman.

[9:46] Um so it's really coming up.

[9:50] And here's the intersection at Vernon

[9:52] and Interlockan. You can see we still

[9:54] got our free turns going here. Vernon on

[9:57] the left, interlocking on the right,

[9:59] Caribou in the background, and we can

[10:02] see the median here that splitting

[10:04] traffic

[10:09] over here on the left. Just want to

[10:10] highlight the Adana liquor store again.

[10:13] Uh it's back open for business. We've

[10:15] got our bike racks installed there. Hope

[10:18] everyone goes and visits

[10:21] over on the right hand of the side here,

[10:23] right hand side of the page here. Uh

[10:25] this was from two weeks ago at the

[10:27] bottom. This is a retaining wall coming

[10:29] off the wing wall at the east side of

[10:31] 100. You can see Washurn McCree in the

[10:34] background. And this was yesterday up at

[10:36] the top. They've poured the retaining

[10:38] wall. And as of today, they're starting

[10:41] to back fill up here, adding in dirt and

[10:43] compacting it, bringing it up to grade.

[10:47] Very exciting.

[10:51] over here. This is a retaining wall.

[10:53] This is the Hawthorne Court condos.

[10:56] This was several weeks ago when they

[10:59] were still they poured every other and

[11:01] this was yesterday. They poured the last

[11:03] segment of the retaining wall. Uh which

[11:07] is very exciting. They've got on top of

[11:10] this these posts here are dowels for the

[11:12] noise wall. Um

[11:16] so that's steel reinforcement that will

[11:18] go up and beyond. I know you might want

[11:21] to look at these to get a a visual idea

[11:22] of how tall the noise wall will be. Um,

[11:25] just know that the noise wall will go

[11:26] taller than that. Probably about 15

[11:28] feet, give or take, from the top of

[11:31] these these steel dowels.

[11:38] So, here's over at the west abutment of

[11:40] the Highway 100 bridge. This was two

[11:43] weeks ago. Footing for the re um for the

[11:46] retaining wall over here. And then this

[11:49] was yesterday. Fully constructed.

[11:53] Really moving along. They're getting on

[11:55] back fill in here today as well.

[12:02] Here's the railroad bridge again. Uh

[12:05] some of the back fill I was talking

[12:06] about. You can see down at the bottom

[12:09] here where it started and they do it in

[12:12] lifts and compact it, move it all the

[12:13] way up and now they're starting to back

[12:15] fill along that retaining wall along the

[12:17] Hawthorne Court Apartments.

[12:20] Over here is the Debanis

[12:22] and the Holiday Store Caribou background

[12:26] for a little bit of perspective.

[12:31] And here we're looking at the northbound

[12:33] ramp that's closed under construction.

[12:35] Uh you can see they have a stockpile

[12:37] over here on the left side. On the right

[12:39] side they've created this kind of they

[12:41] call it a bench. That's where they're

[12:42] kind of where their work zone is. Uh so

[12:45] they can get their equipment over

[12:48] down here there's a crane and a drigging

[12:52] equipment which is hard to see in this

[12:54] picture but over here you can see this

[12:55] was the first noise wall post that was

[12:57] installed.

[12:59] And so this area it's down by Minihaha

[13:02] Creek and they're going to work their

[13:04] way up towards 50th and city hall.

[13:11] I just wanted to wrap up again. Here's

[13:13] some of the initial renderings and it's

[13:15] really exciting to see that the project

[13:17] looks just like these. It's fun to see

[13:19] it actually coming along. Um

[13:24] so yeah, with that, uh open up to

[13:26] questions. Again, my name is Derek

[13:28] Houston. I've got my email here and

[13:31] we've got our next meeting in two weeks

[13:33] and Chad should be back for that. So,

[13:36] I'll start going through the chat, read

[13:38] any questions. I'll do the best I can.

[13:44] First question I'm seeing uh from

[13:46] Darren, will there be pillars, beams for

[13:49] support underneath the new Vernon Avenue

[13:51] bridge like the old one, or will be

[13:52] abutments, retaining walls on each side?

[13:55] Uh, so I'd say there's abutments on each

[13:58] side. Um, it's a single span. So if

[14:01] we're looking at this bridge here over

[14:03] 100, I think what you're getting at is

[14:06] this thing in the center is called a

[14:07] pier. And on the railroad bridge, there

[14:11] will not be a pier. So it'll just be an

[14:13] abupment on each side and then beams

[14:15] going across that will hold up the deck.

[14:21] Can you tell me anything that's being

[14:23] done about the traffic control on Eden?

[14:28] Uh, well, so I think you're probably

[14:29] getting at backups and traffic there.

[14:32] There's going to be a lot of traffic,

[14:33] unfortunately. Um, it's one of the

[14:36] necessary evils of having construction,

[14:38] but we all want nice roads. Uh, you

[14:40] know, if you have any ideas, we're we're

[14:42] all ears. We're monitoring it and we're

[14:45] going to be taking an extra deep look at

[14:47] it next week with school starting.

[14:55] When they work on the west side of the

[14:56] rail bridge, where will they have the

[14:59] work area?

[15:01] Well, a large part of their area is

[15:04] going to be right on top of the abupment

[15:06] uh next to the holiday center or the

[15:09] holiday gas station.

[15:12] Um, that's why if you walk over there,

[15:14] there is a decent amount of area that's

[15:16] untouched and they left a little bit

[15:17] extra to give themsel room. Um, so that

[15:20] and that closed area of Gus Young is for

[15:22] the contractor to be working in.

[15:28] There is a covered pathway trail with

[15:30] trees looking towards the north leading

[15:32] up to Vernon Avenue Bridge between

[15:34] Holiday Drive and that gorge where the

[15:37] railroad sits below. Will that trail

[15:39] still be accessible once the new bridge

[15:41] over the train tracks is complete? Um,

[15:45] so I believe that's that's the trail I'm

[15:47] thinking of coming up from 49th and kind

[15:50] of Brookside area. Uh, that's not an

[15:53] officially sanctioned trail and that is

[15:55] on railroad property. So that is

[16:00] nothing the city can do about that.

[16:09] Um, from Barb,

[16:12] traffic's getting worse on Eden.

[16:19] What is the trigger you're looking for

[16:20] as you monitor that would indicate

[16:22] something will be done to create more

[16:24] controls?

[16:27] Well, I guess if you have ideas, we're

[16:29] all ears. Um, to an extent, there's only

[16:32] so much we can do. That is a major

[16:33] detour on Eden from Vernon and there's a

[16:37] lot of traffic there with school.

[16:40] So if you have any ideas, we're all

[16:42] ears. Please let us know.

[16:44] Hey Derek,

[16:46] I don't want to interrupt you, but I

[16:49] think you're looking at questions from

[16:51] something.

[16:52] Yeah. Can you hear me?

[16:56] Can you hear me?

[16:57] Anything?

[16:57] Okay, I'll do it in the chat.

[17:00] Just curious. When were you both the old

[17:03] Vernon Avenue and Highway 100 bridges

[17:05] built?

[17:06] I want to say around the 50s, but don't

[17:08] quote me on that.

[17:10] Is he looking at old questions?

[17:12] I think so.

[17:12] Yeah, I think I think he's reading

[17:15] I didn't realize I scrolled too far up

[17:16] in the meeting.

[17:17] Yeah,

[17:17] I'm sorry.

[17:18] It's okay.

[17:18] Okay,

[17:19] that was what I was trying to tell him.

[17:21] Got the first question from today.

[17:22] It was John Crab. Hold

[17:24] with me one second.

[17:32] Okay, believe John Crabtree question

[17:34] from today

[17:39] whether we plan to finish the project in

[17:40] 2025.

[17:42] Uh if we do, what is the drop dead date

[17:44] for an agreement between Excel and CPKC?

[17:48] Um well, I'd say we're going to do

[17:49] everything we can to finish it this

[17:50] year. Uh that's what we want to do.

[17:54] Everybody does contractor included. I

[17:57] wouldn't say we have a drop dead date.

[17:59] Um it's once we have more information,

[18:02] that's when we can really evaluate our

[18:04] options, which unfortunately

[18:06] as I shared earlier, there's not a whole

[18:07] lot of an update.

[18:12] So curious to know, will the Graange

[18:16] Road 50th stop light be removed?

[18:20] And will one be put where highway 100

[18:23] north exists on the 50th?

[18:28] So the light at range will remain and

[18:32] yes I believe one's added at the

[18:34] on-ramps over there.

[18:41] All the traffic shifted onto Eden

[18:43] midepptember.

[18:45] What is the traffic control planet?

[18:54] So, Bill's question about all the

[18:56] traffic on Eden and with school

[18:58] starting. Um, you know, it's something

[19:00] we're going to take a look at with

[19:02] schools starting and with the ramps

[19:04] closed. We're not totally sure how it's

[19:06] going to be impacted. Um, looking into

[19:10] manual control is

[19:12] something we will look at. Uh, but I

[19:14] don't have an answer on if that will

[19:16] happen. Um, we definitely say if you're

[19:19] traveling in the area, give yourself

[19:21] extra time and expect there to be

[19:22] traffic and please be patient.

[19:32] Can the city provide marketing promotion

[19:34] efforts to encourage people to patronize

[19:36] local businesses despite all the

[19:38] construction going on?

[19:41] Um, that's something I can bring up with

[19:43] Chad and other members of the city. Um,

[19:47] but I don't have an answer for that

[19:48] right now.

[19:52] Yeah, we can look at some of the

[19:54] roundabout controls too with the

[19:55] traffic.

[20:03] So, yes, Roy's asking about drop dead

[20:07] date and when the contract how much time

[20:09] the contractor would need. Um, right.

[20:12] There's a lot of options though. it's

[20:16] asking the contractor to work more hours

[20:18] or different winter conditions. Um, but

[20:21] it's something we really don't want to

[20:23] hypothesize about this far in advance um

[20:26] without with all the unknowns kind of

[20:28] getting the buggy in front of the horse.

[20:35] All really great questions.

[20:41] Give a few more minutes. If anyone's got

[20:44] any other questions, put them in the

[20:45] chat.

[20:47] Thanks, Bill. Yep. We enjoy these

[20:49] updates, too. It's fun getting all the

[20:51] progress out to everyone,

[20:53] keeping everyone in the loop.

[21:00] All righty. So, I guess with that, not

[21:01] seeing any other questions.

[21:04] Feel free to reach out to me or or Chad

[21:06] with any other questions. He's on PTO

[21:08] for this week and next week. Uh, but

[21:11] we're happy to help and answer any

[21:13] questions you have. So, thanks everyone.