History: Originally constructed in 1964, the three bridges carrying West Broadway Avenue (CSAH 81) over Victory Memorial Drive, Lowry Avenue (CSAH 153), and the Historic Grand Rounds Scenic Byway are approaching the end of their service lives. One of the bridges is actually an entrance ramp onto CSAH 81. Two of the three structures have weight restrictions and two are classified as structurally deficient.

Hennepin County was awarded $7,000,000 towards the replacement of bridges 27007 & 27008 through the Metropolitan Council 2016 Regional Solicitation for construction in 2021. Consulting funds for both projects were budgeted in the five-year capital improvement program (CIP) for the year 2020. Due to the location of these bridges and their critical condition, staff recommends that the scoping and design work begin in 2018, rather than 2020. Consequently, additional consulting funds ($800,000) are needed to start the bridge design in 2018. With a total budget of nearly $20 million for these bridge projects, the $1,700,000 in consulting funds is less than 10 percent of the overall project budget. The approval to use funds in 2018 to begin the design work this year will allow staff to better scope this project, which will help keep it on schedule and within budget.

Four qualified consultant teams responded to the request for proposals to begin the CSAH 81 bridge design. The selection committee, including county staff, representatives from the City of Robbinsdale and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), reviewed the proposals and interviewed the teams. The committee recommended SRF Consulting Group, Inc. (SRF) for the bridge design work. The scope of work includes data collection, alternative analysis, traffic analysis, preliminary design, and implementation plans.

Agreement PW 28-66-18 with SRF outlines the scope of services needed to develop reconstruction plans and to outline all tasks needed to deliver a federally funded project. The three bridges are located within two city limits and two watershed districts that may have competing interests. A contingency has been included in the contract fee.

Current Request: This request is for authorization to negotiate agreement PW 28-66-18 with SRF for consulting services to develop plans to replace bridges 27006, 27007 and 27008, which carry West Broadway Avenue (CSAH 81) over Victory Memorial Drive, Lowry Avenue (CSAH 153), and the Historic Grand Rounds Scenic Byway in the cities of Minneapolis and Robbinsdale.

Additionally this request is for authorization to amend the project budgets and transfer funds totaling $800,000 from the 2018 Consulting Services line item CP 2999950 placing $160,000 into project 2167500 and $640,000 into project 2167600 as outlined in the tables 1 and 2 for consultant work to begin in 2018. The funding for 2019 consultant work is outlined in tables 1 and 2 under future CIP requests. Table 3 shows the current balance of the Consultant Services line item.

Impacts/Outcomes: Approval of this request will allow the county to hire SRF to begin the design for three critical bridge replacements in 2018, which will allow staff to better scope this project keeping it on schedule and within budget.

The bridges, which are nearing the end of their service lives, cross Victory Memorial Drive, Lowry Avenue and the Historic Grand Rounds Trail system. They are located next to the North Memorial Health Hospital, one of three Level 1 trauma centers in the Twin Cities. The new bridge design will consider safety, accessibility and support all modes of transportation.

Budget Table 1: CP 2167500 “CSAH 81 – Replace Bridge #27006 at Victory Memorial Pkwy”

Budget Table 2: CP 2167600 “CSAH 81 – Replace Bridges #27007 and #27008 at Lowry Ave”

Budget Table 3: CP 2999950 “Consultant Services”