“It’s very important that this road gets done as soon as possible and as efficiently as possible. I realize we could get it done quicker if we wanted to spend three times the amount of money, but we don’t want to do that either."”

Queen Creek Mayor Gail Barney

By Richard Dyer
Twitter: @RHDyer

An additional $2 million needed for construction contracts associated with the previously funded Rittenhouse Road Bridge replacement project was recently approved by the Queen Creek Town Council.

The item, which was pulled from the consent agenda for a presentation from town staff, was approved in a unanimous vote.

In August, the council approved a resolution and spending $15,913,771 to acquire right-of-way and to complete anticipated Rittenhouse Road improvements. They include work from 213th Street to Riggs Road, waterline improvements from a tie-in south of the Alliance Lumber Spur Track to Cloud Road and the Rittenhouse Road Bridge replacement, Troy White, the town’s public works director, said in a memo to the council.

The project total is now $17,570,793.39, including $342,977.61 for contingencies to address any unanticipated additional services, he said.

“The current approved Delegation Resolution 1280-19 will cover all of the contractual costs associated with the roadway improvements. However, to complete the bridge replacement portion of the overall improvements, there is a funding shortage of $1,657,022.39,” Mr. White said in the memo.

The original Rittenhouse Road project is underway, with work continuing until December 2020, Mr. White said at the council’s Dec. 4 meeting.

The Rittenhouse Bridge project work is January-September 2020, and a Meridian Road project has begun and will be done by April 1, he said.

“So, what we’re going to have, in essence, is Meridian Road will be opened before we need to close Rittenhouse Road to do the bridge work. It’s only going to be closed for 10 weeks,” he said. “And, most of that’s going to be when school recess is out... We’ve only got about three weeks to deal with school after that school recess.”

“It’s very important that this road gets done as soon as possible and as efficiently as possible. I realize we could get it done quicker if we wanted to spend three times the amount of money, but we don’t want to do that either,” Mayor Gail Barney said.

“So thank you to you and your staff for coming up with what I think is the best way to get this job done in the most-efficient manner,” he said.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley
@RHDyer

rdyer@iniusa.org

Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia, Inc.. USA, since 1987. Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. He also is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows