City Council to consider contract for Bee Branch trail project

Dubuque City Council meeting

Dubuque City Council members will meet at 6:30 p.m. today in the second-floor chambers of the Historic Federal Building, 350 W. Sixth St.

Prior to the meeting, a work session will be held on 2021-2023 equity plan projects.

The meeting will be shown live on Mediacom cable channels 8 and 117.2, at cityofdubuque.org/media and at facebook.com/cityofdubuque.

Those wishing to submit input before or during the meeting can contact ctyclerk@cityofdubuque.org.

Members of the public also can provide audio and written input during sections of the agenda in which public input is accepted by logging in to global.gotomeeting.com/join/337661181. The public also can join the meeting by phone by dialing 1-877-568-4106 and using access code 337-661-181.

Individuals must include their name and address in order to be recognized.

A full meeting agenda with links containing supporting documents can be found at bit.ly/3bPILe5.

Dubuque City Council members today are expected to vote on awarding a contract for a trail project on the North End.

City staff have recommended accepting the $444,735 low bid from Tricon General Construction for the construction of 5,853 square feet of concrete trail that would extend through box culverts under the railroad tracks near Garfield Avenue and the upper Bee Branch Creek. When completed, it will connect the trail systems of the upper and lower Bee Branch.

Including engineering, contingencies and other costs, the project now has an expected total cost of $550,640, slightly below the previous estimate.

The trail extension is part of a larger effort to install new culverts under the Canadian Pacific railroad tracks to improve the Bee Branch’s flood mitigation capacity. Along with the installed concrete, trail lighting and security cameras would be placed along the trail extension.

The project will be paid for with a $175,000 grant from the National Park Service’s Land and Water Conservation Fund, along with $375,640 in state sales tax increment funding.

The trail is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, which is anticipated to coincide with the completion of the culvert project.