The Mahomet Village board of trustees awarded the bid for South Mahomet Road extension to Feutz Contractors for $4,307,769.26 Tuesday evening.
The Village received two bids for the project, the other from Duce Construction for $5,296,368.08, both coming in under the projected cost of $5,489,002.60. The board also placed a “built-in variable” for construction, allowing the amount to go up to $4.4 million should additional funds, or change orders, be needed.
The road will be constructed of concrete with asphalt shoulders.
The project will include berm construction at Conway Lake, storm sewers and culverts, lime soil stabilization, concrete roadway construction, asphalt shoulders, milling and resurfacing on existing parts of South Mahomet Road, roundabout construction at South Mahomet Road and Churchill including lighting and running an electric service to the roundabout, pavement markings, and site restoration.
Funds for the project will come from TIF (tax increment funding) within the East Mahomet TIF. The TIF district was established in 2000, and extended another 12 years in 2019 in order to make this project possible. TIF establishes a base rate of property taxes, which are distributed to all taxing bodies within an area, then sets aside increases in those same property taxes for public infrastructure that will allow an area to develop.
Originally, the Mahomet-Seymour School District was responsible for roads along the school district property. That changed when the district’s obligation to address a water easement issue in 2016 was addressed. In M-S discussions with a private landowner looking to develop along the east side of the Conway Farms Lake, and Village staff, a deal was reached where the district settled the water easement requirements and South Mahomet Road extension relieved the district of its road obligation.
Construction of South Mahomet Road is expected to be completed by June 2023, although staff said it is “very possible that the work could get done by the end of this calendar year” within the board packet.
The Village also moved a resolution of $50,000 for ERI to perform material testing and limited inspections during the construction of South Mahomet Road to the consent agenda for later in the month. Another $80,400 for Berns Clancy and Associates for construction staking and surveying services was moved to the consent agenda.
The funds will come from TIF. The entirety of the project is not expected to be funded by the TIF, though.
Village engineer Ellen Hedrick and an intern will also be evaluating the site throughout construction.
This is just Phase I of the extension of South Mahomet Road. The Village is still awaiting a hearing with the ICC (Illinois Commerce Commission) for the railroad crossing. The Village projects that construction costs for the new proposed crossing will be around $1,500,000.00 including about $200,000 for engineering and professional services.
The current ADT for vehicular traffic on the existing South Mahomet Road, south of the proposed crossing, is 1,250. The projected traffic at the crossing is 2,750 for the year 2030, according to ICC documents.
Once completed, some maps call for South Mahomet Road to extend to Prairieview Road, although that is contingent upon the results of the June 2022 referendum, according to Community Dev. Director Kelly Pfeifer.
With the opening of the South Mahomet Road crossing, the Walnut Street crossing will be closed.
