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Politics & Government

Private Fund-raising on Hold for Route 47 Pathway

Without Yorkville trail funding, state workers will widen roadway so bikes can share path with vehicles, city engineer says.

for a bike trial along Route 47 has been put on hold after the Yorkville City Council’s reaction to estimated maintenance costs, Ward 4 Alderman Diane Teeling said.

Teeling and other organizers canceled the kickoff slated for Saturday after May 24 that they doubted they would accept the donated money because the city wouldn’t be able to afford the upkeep.

“We decided, in light of what happened at the city council meeting, that we’re going to hold off on that until we can get that taken care of,” Teeling said, adding she didn't think people would donate toward something city leaders don't want.

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The city’s share for the 2.44 miles of pathway along Route 47 would be $116,000, with the state providing the other 80 percent of the cost. This section would be the first portion of Route 47 that the state rebuilds as part of a series of projects around Yorkville.

City Administrator Bart Olson estimated that the city would spend up to $5,300 a year if workers seal-coated that pathway every three years and replaced one-tenth of the trail through pothole repair.

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In addition, Olson suggested setting aside $6,871 annually to provide funds to replace the trail in 25 years. That would mean the city should budget $12,293 annually for trail maintenance and replacement.

Previously, city staff had estimated Yorkville would spend about $10,000 annually maintaining the 13.25 miles of trail proposed in the .

Also since the May 24 city council meeting, City Engineer Joe Wywrot clarified that without partial funding from the city, state workers would simply build a wider outside lane without any special bike lane markings.

“The outer lane would be 0.4 meters (equivalent to 16 inches) wider than the inner lanes and there would be no striped line delineating a bicycle lane, therefore bicyclists would share the outer lane with motorized traffic,” Wywrot wrote in a May 25 memo to Olson.

The 10-foot-wide off-road trail, which is what had been proposed in the failed referendums, cost about $25 per linear foot, Wywrot wrote. The city would pay $5 per linear foot. (Wywrot's two-page memo is attached to this article as a PDF file.)

On-road bicycle lanes would be much more expensive because they would have to be built with the same materials and specifications as the roadway, Wywrot wrote. Building lanes for both directions would cost $90 per linear foot, with the city’s portion being $18 per linear foot.

“IDOT has also indicated that the additional 12 feet of roadway width could require larger storm sewers to drain the pavement, and that the city would be responsible for 20 percent of any additional storm sewer costs,” Wywrot wrote.

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