Bid letting for the East Main Street underpass in Galesburg, Ill., was pushed back from March to June, delaying the project another three months.
City engineer Wayne Carl said the timeline to bid out the project was pushed as BNSF Railway and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) are still working on the agreement to build the underpass. Carl was told there is just one item holding up negotiations, though the groups have not disclosed what the item is.
With the bid letting pushed to June, the start date for construction is now August. Under the March letting, the estimated start date would have been April or May, allowing crews more time to work in warm weather.
The completion date was estimated around June 2018 with a March letting, and this delay will likely push that back as well, though how long depends on the weather during the altered construction season.
While working out the details for the main project, Carl said contractors can work on supplemental projects around the underpass, including work at the intersection of Main and Chambers streets.
This is the third delay for the underpass project, the second since the start of 2016. In January, the bid letting was delayed while BNSF and IDOT worked out the agreement, and in March 2015 the start date was pushed back from August of that year to January.
