ACTION REQUESTED:
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Communication from the City Manager and Director of Public Works with a Request to APPROVE the Submission of an Application for a "BUILD 2018" DISCRETIONARY GRANT, in an Amount up to $25,000,000.00, from the U.S. Department of Transportation for Improvements to MAIN STREET (From the Illinois River to Farmington Road). (Council Districts 1 and 2)
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BACKGROUND: On April 20, 2018, the US Department of Transportation released a Notice of Funding Availability (copy attached), for its latest round of competitive surface transportation discretionary grants called Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) for 2018. The BUILD program has a minimum and maximum request threshold of $5 million and $25 million, respectively, with a maximum of $125 million per state and $1.5 billion for the country, and is only available for projects that can begin construction relatively quickly (are "shovel ready"), upon receipt of the grant. There are also requirements that a portion of the grant awards shall be to rural areas, which limit the availability of the funding for cities such as Peoria. In reviewing potential City projects that meet these and other eligibility requirements, Staff believes the improvement of the Main Street corridor would be an appropriate submission.
The Main Street corridor improvements have been discussed and planned over the past decade. The complete plan would reconstruct 2.10 miles of Main Street and West Main Street between the Illinois River and Farmington Road.
The City's BUILD 2018 application will request funding for this entire roadway corridor. The total budget for the entire project is approximately $24 million. The BUILD 2018 grant would cover up to 80% of the total project costs, with the remaining 20% coming from non-federal sources (local match). Staff is working to finalize the budget and the grant request. Based on a preliminary estimate of $24 million, the federal request would be $19.2 mill...
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