Agenda - Council - 06/14/2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE # CONSIDER ENTERING INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE BNSF RAILWAY COMPANY TO UPGRADE THE RAILROAD CROSSING AT ALPINE DRIVE By: Steven J. Jankowski, City Engineer Background: Thc City reccived notice fi'om TDKA Engineers, acting as the agent for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company, that the Roadmaster will have a BNSF crew in the Ramscy area within the next several weeks to work on various railroad street crossing. Thc raih'oad crossing on Alpine Drive, the only City street railroad crossing in the City, is an extremely rough crossing and should be considered for being upgraded. This crossing has bccn a source of citizen complaints. A photo of this crossing is attached to this case. Attached is a cover letter from TKDA which identifies the cost to the City for rcplacclnent of this crossing with new concrete crossing panels at $32,000. This amount is one third of the actual cost of $1,200 per foot. Staff has been informed that if the City would rcqucst the railroad to perform this work at a time when work was not being scheduled within the area the cost of the crossing replacement would be the full cost of the work. Thc roughness of the crossing is at least in part due to the fact that there is an elevation di fl'crcncc of four inches between the two tracks which are ten feet apart. In discussing thc crossing replacement with the TKDA representative, staff has been told that the castcrly rail would be raised such that both tracks would be at the same elevation. In addition to the concrete panels the work performed by the railroad will include replacing thc bituminous pavement in between the two tracks and on both sides of the approaches, however, because of the raising of the east track it will be necessary to regrade this approach a distance of 30 feet to provide a smooth transition. Staff has still to discuss with thc roadmaster whether this length of street transitioning would be included in the $32,000 agreement amount. To be conservative an additional $2,000 should be budgeted in thc event the railroad will not include this much approach work in the lump sum charge. Recommendation: Th is opportunity for improving this crossing was not anticipated during the preparation of the 2005 budget. However, because of the substantial savings to the City by participating in thc work at this time as opposed to petitioning the railroad for the work at some point in thc future, staff is recommending that the City participate in the replacement of the railroad crossing of Alpine Drive with funding in the amount of $34,000 to be taken from thc Pubic hnprovement Revolving Fund.