AUBURN - Attention Wal-Mart shoppers, you may soon have a new route to drive to your favorite store.
The Auburn City Council Tuesday awarded a $1.1 million contract to F. Rizzo Construction of Auburn to build the first phase of a road that will eventually connect Grant Avenue to North Street. This phase includes a new entrance for Wal-Mart on the south side of the store. It is expected to alleviate some of the congestion at the Wal-Mart/Lowe's intersection at Grant Avenue.
Wal-Mart will contribute $150,000 to the project which, when completed, is estimated to cost $4 million. No date has been set for groundbreaking.
F. Rizzo was the low bidder of the five bids received, City Manager John Salomone said. The bid came in about $350,000 less than was anticipated. This phase will encompass about 40 percent of the 1.1 mile road. The second phase will be bid separately when the city works out unresolved issues that include questions about a railroad crossing.
"That's why we bid it separately," Salomone said. "We didn't want to hold up the project."
Popli Consulting Engineers, the Penfield firm that designed the road, was also awarded a $107,000 contract for construction-inspection services. Salomone said it's logical to have the road's designers be the inspectors.
State Sen. Michael Nozzolio secured $2 million of state transportation aid for the project several years ago. There is also money for it included in the recently adopted Federal Highway Transportation Act, but Congress and the Senate are still working out the details of how much the city will receive.
The connector road has been more than four years in the planning. When completed, it is expected to ease traffic on Standart Avenue and adjacent streets used by motorists traveling from North Street near York Street to the east end of Grant Avenue. The road will meet Brookside Drive.
The connector road will also open up some property for retail development, Salomone said.
Councilor William Jacobs suggested the thoroughfare be named, instead of calling it the connector road. He said Route 326 on the west side of Auburn is called that as well.
"Now that we're going to break dirt and see some construction, I think the city should name it as a street," Jacobs said.
"We could name it after the mayor who got it started," Councilor Robert Hunter said.
"Melina Carnicelli?" Jacobs said. "I was thinking more of East York Street."
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net
Wal-Mart will contribute $150,000 to the project which, when completed, is estimated to cost $4 million. No date has been set for groundbreaking.
F. Rizzo was the low bidder of the five bids received, City Manager John Salomone said. The bid came in about $350,000 less than was anticipated. This phase will encompass about 40 percent of the 1.1 mile road. The second phase will be bid separately when the city works out unresolved issues that include questions about a railroad crossing.
"That's why we bid it separately," Salomone said. "We didn't want to hold up the project."
Popli Consulting Engineers, the Penfield firm that designed the road, was also awarded a $107,000 contract for construction-inspection services. Salomone said it's logical to have the road's designers be the inspectors.
State Sen. Michael Nozzolio secured $2 million of state transportation aid for the project several years ago. There is also money for it included in the recently adopted Federal Highway Transportation Act, but Congress and the Senate are still working out the details of how much the city will receive.
The connector road has been more than four years in the planning. When completed, it is expected to ease traffic on Standart Avenue and adjacent streets used by motorists traveling from North Street near York Street to the east end of Grant Avenue. The road will meet Brookside Drive.
The connector road will also open up some property for retail development, Salomone said.
Councilor William Jacobs suggested the thoroughfare be named, instead of calling it the connector road. He said Route 326 on the west side of Auburn is called that as well.
"Now that we're going to break dirt and see some construction, I think the city should name it as a street," Jacobs said.
"We could name it after the mayor who got it started," Councilor Robert Hunter said.
"Melina Carnicelli?" Jacobs said. "I was thinking more of East York Street."
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net
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