Warsaw has been revitalizing its downtown and building up Drake Harbor’s Recreation Area for many years resulting in parks, trails and other outdoor areas to walk, bicycle, and have events. There have also been improvements in infrastructure and other amenities. A key person enabling the city to receive many grants to help fund these projects is City Administrator Randy Pogue. One grant he has applied for since 2009, has been elusive until this year when the City of Warsaw became one of four Missouri cities to receive this year’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant in the amount of $24,997,004. Pogue says that the funds will be used to build on efforts to enhance mobility and community connectivity.
Pogue issued a statement outlining the RAISE Complete Street Project overview as follows.
“The $25 million RAISE Complete Street project is moving into the final phases of completing necessary documents and contracts to be reviewed and approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA),” said Pogue.
He added, "This process has been a lengthy task requiring several meetings between the City of Warsaw and the FHWA. Part of this process is creating a fee proposal for the city to perform a design build construction project delivery. This type of project delivery requires the city to complete the first 30% of the design documents. City staff and city engineer have completed the draft fee proposal and have submitted it to the FHWA for review. The city is hopeful that the draft fee proposal will be approved by the end of this year. Once approved, the city will be given notice to proceed with the 30% design documents. Eventually, the design documents will be provided a selected contractor and engineer team."
"The tasks within the 30% design documents are survey, environmental and cultural review, landscape review and various amenities like street lights.
Using street lights as an example, the 30% design documents will look at Main Street, Jackson Street, and Commercial Street to determine examples of street lights that can be provided to a design team who will perform the final 70% of the design work. The lights will guide the design team in selecting an approved light that distinguishes each roadway with its own unique individual look."
"In advance of the RAISE roadway improvements, a perfect example of a Complete Street will be Main Street in the Eastgate retail district. This project will soon advertise for bids that include unique lighting that has been selected specific for this area. The roadway reconstruction will be fully ADA-compliant and incorporate bike lanes, sidewalks, landscape and improved entrances to each business."
"The RAISE transportation improvements that will occur are enhancements to our three primary roadways. This is Main, Jackson and Commercial Streets. Altogether, the project will add 5.8 miles of sidewalks, 5.3 miles of bike lanes, and 0.5 miles of multi-use trails, increasing affordable transportation choices and making it safer for our residents to choose active transportation, which in turn reduces vehicle dependency."
"Today, Warsaw’s transportation network accommodates vehicle travel only and fails to serve the large percent of the population who typically walk, bike, or use their wheelchair throughout the community. Enhancing mobility and community connectivity throughout Warsaw is a primary purpose of this project and has been a focus of improvement for the past two decades. Over the years we have completed multiple planning efforts that have guided our vision and implementation of capital projects. This RAISE Project will build on these past efforts to radically transform our transportation system into a multimodal network that will serve the entire community.”
