BE IT RESOLVED, that the County Administrator be authorized to negotiate and execute agreements with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the City of Brooklyn Park and the City of Brooklyn Center for cost participation in the environmental review of Trunk Highway (TH) 252 improvements from Interstate 694 (I-694)/Interstate 94 (I-94) to TH 610 under capital project (CP) 2155600, "TH 252 Improvements from I-694 to TH 610," at an estimated receivable of $2,840,000; that upon review and approval by the County Attorney’s office, the Chair of the Board be authorized to sign the agreements on behalf of the county; that the budget for CP 2155600 be increased by $3,560,000 from $400,000 to $3,960,000; that $720,000 in County Road Bonds be transferred from CP 2167700, "TH 252/CSAH 109 85th Ave N interchange," to CP 2155600; and that the Controller be authorized to transfer and receive funds as directed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County Administrator be authorized to negotiate and execute Amendment 1 to Agreement PW 11-66-17 with SRF Consulting Group, Inc. to expand the planning, design and environmental review services for CP 2155600, extending the contract period from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2020 and increasing the not-to-exceed amount by $3,560,000 to a new total not-to-exceed amount of $3,960,000; that upon review and approval by the County Attorney’s office, the Chair of the Board be authorized to sign the amendment on behalf of the county; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed.

History: TH 252 is a north-south principal arterial state highway located entirely within Hennepin County. Connecting I-694/I-94 to the south and TH 610 to the north, this corridor traverses the cities of Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park. I-94 is a north-south principal arterial interstate freeway that connects TH 252 to downtown Minneapolis. The combined TH 252 and I-694/I-94 corridor is approximately 10 miles in length and serves over 125,000 vehicles per day.

As an expressway, TH 252 has six at-grade signalized intersections.  Five of the six intersections are ranked by MnDOT in the top 100 intersections for crash costs.  Of these, the 66^th Avenue intersection ranks second in crash costs statewide and the 85^th Avenue (County Road 109) ranks ninth.  It is worth noting that 85^th Avenue is a county roadway to the west of TH 252 and the TH 252 corridor is a primary route connecting northern Hennepin County residents to jobs and commerce throughout the region.

Because of the safety concerns, the board identified "TH 252 Improvements from I-694 to TH 610" (CP 2155600) in the 2016-2020 Capital Improvement Program, funded with $200,000 in property taxes, to plan and develop concepts for safety improvements along the TH 252 corridor (Resolution 15-0336R2). The board also authorized county staff to lead the TH 252 corridor partnership to ensure the project would be well positioned to compete for future funding opportunities.

In 2016, the board identified "TH 252/CSAH 109 85th Ave N interchange" (CP 2167700) in the 2017 capital budget and allocated $7 million of county road bond funds in 2017 to convert the intersection to freeway interchange (Resolution 16-0338R1).

In May 2017, the board authorized the county administrator to negotiate and execute Agreement PW 11-66-17 with SRF Consulting for planning and design services on TH 252 at a county cost not to exceed $400,000 (Resolution 17-0164). SRF Consulting was selected following a competitive Request for Proposals process. At the same time, the board also authorized an increase to the budget for CP 2155600 to $400,000. SRF Consulting was selected following a competitive request-for-proposals process.

In September 2017, the Federal Highway Administration recommended that the county's TH 252 study transition to an environmental document to avoid prejudicing the environmental review process for future improvements within the TH 252 corridor. This coincided with recommendations from the MnPASS System Study Phase 3, led by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and the Metropolitan Council, which the identified TH 252 and I-94 corridor as a high priority for future MnPASS implementation.

Recently, the City of Brooklyn Center indicated its readiness to prepare an environmental document for the TH 252/66th Avenue interchange.

The confluence of these events led MnDOT and Brooklyn Center staff to request using the county’s agreement with SRF Consulting to add the TH 252/I-94 environmental document to the scope of services. These factors led to the need to amend Agreement PW 11-66-17 with SRF Consulting to expand the project’s scope, schedule and budget to include an environmental review of the 10-mile corridor, investigate the impacts of MnPASS and seek funding for the expanded corridor improvements.

Anticipating the amendment, county staff reevaluated the Small Business Enterprise goal and increased it from 8 to 13 percent.

To help fund the project, the TH 252/I-94 Policy Advisory Committee and Metropolitan Council submitted applications for Corridors of Commerce funding to convert TH 252 from an expressway to freeway and implement MnPASS on the corridor. The 2017 State Legislature allocated $400 million statewide for roadway improvement projects under the Corridors of Commerce program. A resolution of support from Hennepin County is needed for the recommended TH 252/I-94 projects to receive the requisite points for community consensus in the Corridors of Commerce project ranking process.    

Current Request: This request seeks authorization for three actions.

First, it seeks authorization to negotiate and execute agreements with MnDOT and the cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center for cost participation in the environmental review for TH 252 from I-694/I-94 to TH 610 under CP 2155600, at an estimated receivable of $2,840,000.

Second, this request seeks authorization to increase the budget for CP 2155600, "252 Improvements from I-694 to TH 610," by $3,560,000 from $400,000 to $3,960,000 and to transfer $720,000 in county road bonds from CP 2167700, "TH 252/CSAH 109 85th Avenue N interchange" to CP 2155600. A review of the project budgets appropriated by the board and the anticipated project costs indicates that the bond revenue is available to transfer from CP 2167700 to CP 2155600.

Third, this request seeks authorization to negotiate Amendment 1 to Agreement PW 11-66-17 with SRF Consulting Group, Inc. to expand planning, design and environmental review services for CP 2155600, extend the contract period from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2020 and increase the not-to-exceed amount by $3,560,000 to a new total not-to-exceed amount of $3,960,000. The county contribution will not exceed $1,120,000. Over 70 percent of costs to complete the environmental review will be funded by non-county sources. Nearly 50 percent will be funded by MnDOT and over 20 percent funded by the cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center.

The county will administer the agreement with SRF and manage the project to help expedite the environmental review. This will also create cost efficiencies and minimize public confusion instead of each agency conducting separate environmental reviews for related projects along the corridor.

Lastly, the county board should adopt a resolution of support for TH 252 and I-694/I-94 corridor improvements to be funded by the Corridors of Commerce program to ensure the requisite community consensus points are assigned as part of the Corridors of Commerce project evaluation and ranking process.  Staff is currently reviewing all applications for projects in Hennepin County that were submitted to MnDOT for Corridors of Commerce funding and will prepare a resolution of support for consideration by the board in March.

The following tables summarize the proposed changes to the capital projects.

Budget table 1 shows the proposed changes to the budget for CP 215660 and the cost participation among the partner agencies.

Budget Table 1: CP 2155600 TH 252 Improvements from I-694 to TH 610

Budget table 2 shows the proposed change to the budget for CP 2167700; that is, the transfer of bond revenue out in order to finance CP 2155600.

Budget Table 2:  CP 2167700 TH 252/CSAH 109 85th Avenue N interchange

Impact/Outcomes: These actions will:

• Expedite the environmental review process,

• Effectively use public funds from all partner agencies,

• Maximize agency coordination and minimize public confusion, and

• Better position the TH 252/I-94 project to compete for funding for TH 252 freeway conversion and MnPASS implementation, which will significantly improve safety and mobility for county residents.