The Aurora City Council is set to vote on nine measures designed to get the Aurora Transportation Center enhancement project on North Broadway downtown ready to go.
All the resolutions, which will be considered by the City Council on Tuesday, in some way affect Phase II of the project — an overall $14 million enhancement of Aurora Transportation Center facilities.
The city is looking at getting things in order to bid the project in January and start construction by May 2018.
“The main goal is to create a more inviting and efficient facility at the Aurora Transportation Center,” Stephane Phifer, director of planning and zoning for Aurora, said at this week’s Committee of the Whole.
Aurora secured an $11.4 million Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant from the federal government for the project. It also will receive a $2 million grant from the Kane County Forest Preserve District.
Earlier this year, the city received permission from the federal government to move up the project’s timeline so it can start next year.
The part of the project that has gotten the most attention from the public is a 900-foot curved pedestrian and bicycle bridge that will connect bike trails on the west and east banks of the Fox River, going over Blues Island.
The bridge will be built at two elevations, with pedestrians using a lower elevation on the south side of the bridge and bikes using a higher elevation on the north side. In the middle of the bridge, on the island, the span will widen to create an overlook for people to view the river, island and downtown Aurora.
The bridge also will be illuminated at night and will include some programmable lights for special occasions or even to match what is happening onstage at RiverEdge Park.
Part of the project also will add onto the southern portion of RiverEdge Park, creating a southern entrance and a beer concession stand. The beer stand at the park is being patterned after those at Summerfest in Milwaukee, which have proven to be successful, Phifer said.
Other parts of the project include a total of 843 more parking spaces around the Transportation Center, with 123 at the station itself and 94 more in the lots on the west side of the river; moving the bus pulse point next to the train tracks; and relocating the traffic signal that is the current entrance to the Two Brothers Roundhouse on North Broadway to the southern entrance of the Transportation Center.
That signal is at an entrance only; the only way to exit Two Brothers is behind the neighboring Holiday Inn hotel. The new signal will provide a new entrance and exit to Two Brothers and the hotel, Phifer said.
One of the resolutions is a local agency agreement with state and federal officials for construction, as well as an engineering services agreement with HR Green, of Yorkville. It would make HR Green the project manager, in effect.
HR Green was chosen from a list of firms that answered a request for qualifications put out by the city. A committee of city employees scored the request, and city officials said HR Green was the most experienced firm on the list and had done the most work with the city.
The company did engineering services on the Indian Trail and Sullivan Road bridge projects for the city.
