Ummm..update on the 2nd RR Underpass?

[OKCisOK4me]

I've looked online and within this sub forum and can't find any information about the Covell underpass beneath the BNSF line. Just wondering if it's a done deal now...

[John]

If I remember, I think it's scheduled for a Jan 2010 opening...

The excavation is complete & there is blacktop down, but it's still a ways to go before completion.

[hipsterdoofus]

yeah I don't go up that way often but last time I was there it was pretty far along.

[OKCisOK4me]

Cool. Thanks for the update guys!

[FFLady]

Covell underpass delayed 140 days

James Coburn
The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — A collective sigh came from members of the Capital Projects and Financing Task Force Tuesday afternoon when they learned the completion of the $6 million Covell Road Underpass has been delayed for an additional 140 days.

Eastbound and westbound traffic on Covell is closed between Broadway Ave. and Thomas Dr. This project will eliminate the at-grade crossing with the railroad tracks.

Public Works Director Herb Blomquist said delays have caused the contractor, Sherwood Construction Company, to request an extension from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. The anticipated completion date had been set before January.

“We might be lucky if we get some decent weather between now and March to see it open a little sooner than predicted,” Blomquist said. “But I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

The contractor is entitled to the extension because of the railroad’s delays in constructing the tracks last summer, City Manager Larry Stevens said this week at the Edmond City Council.

“In fact 90 of those days came from that railroad delay. They’ve also had some rain days,” Stevens said. “Unfortunately, the completion date we feel at this time is now March.”

He said the contractor is currently working on the project’s concrete retaining walls and some subgrade modification.

The 2000 sales tax is the funding source of the city’s $1.37 million investment to pay for the underpass. Federal transportation funds will pay the additional 80 percent of the cost, Stevens said.

Two sections of the overall $45 million Covell project include an extension from the Multipurpose Activity Center at Marilyn Williams Drive to Thomas Drive. Plans call to widen Covell to a four-lane divided roadway with sidewalks and bike paths. The City of Edmond has a $10 million budget for the west section of the project, City Engineer Steve Manek said in August.

The other section would extend from Boulevard to Interstate 35. In September, the city applied for TIGER stimulus funding available in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Assistant City Manager Steve Commons said roadwork on west Covell will not begin until after the underpass is completed.

“But even then I’ve been told the design on Covell is that Covell will be open for traffic,” Commons said.

Construction on the Covell underpass began in Sept. 2008.