By Joe Ragusa
BLOOMINGTON – Hamilton Road in Bloomington will be extended, city officials just aren’t sure how yet.
The city is asking design firms to submit a Statement of Qualification if they’re interested in planning out the extension between Bunn Street and Commerce Parkway.
The hold-up with the project has been a railroad that runs through the planned extension. Public Works Director Jim Karch said the city has been working on extending Hamilton Road for some time now.
“Right now, there’s a gap between Bunn and Commerce that this project will allow to fill in,” Karch said. “What we’re looking now, the next step, is to get a consultant on board for this multi-million dollar project.”
The design firms will be asked to decide between building an at-grade crossing or building an overpass. They’ll also be asked to plan out land acquisition for the project.
Karch said the extension of Hamilton Road is too big of a project to be handled in-house.
“There are times when you need that additional expertise for structural engineering,” Karch said. “You need more of those higher-level, phase-one-type engineers where this is what they do most of the time.”
Karch said the city hopes to have a firm selected by Sept. 4. It’s not known how much the firm’s services will cost.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].
