The North Street connection between 16th and 18th Streets in Perry won’t be completed this year.
The City Council decided to delay the project at their meeting Monday, citing several different reasons. City Administrator Butch Niebuhr says the first was because of the cost to get the project completed in 2015.
“There was a cement plant that burnt in Mason City that’s causing some fluctuations up in cement prices. Then with the new 10 cent fuel tax, it has created a lot of activity in construction for concrete roads and such, anything road related. So bids right now are high and contractors are scarce.”
In addition, the trail connection between the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Perry and the High Trestle Trail in Woodward is also a determining factor. Niebuhr says they received word the Dallas County Conservation Board may be changing the alignment of the connector to start near the bypass, rather than on the northeast portion of town.
“I think it was just a good time for us to sit back and say ‘Let’s take six months, or seven months, and just put this project back a little bit.’ Maybe we can get some better prices on concrete. Maybe well have a better idea on where that connection is going to be from Perry to Bouton.”
Niebuhr says they could have saved money by taking the trail portion out of the North Street project, but then to add it later, they would not have been able to use the Surface Transportation Program funds from the Central Iowa Regional Transportation and Planning Alliance.
The plan is to likely go out for bid on the project later this year, for construction in 2016.