On Tuesday night, July 5, the Normal Town Council approved a resolution appropriating $203,000 for the Franklin Ave. Bridge over the north branch of Sugar Creek. The project will be funded by Illinois State Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) funds that are provided to the town. The resolution was necessary to satisfy Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) requirements.
Now that the resolution has passed IDOT will disperse the MFT funds. After receiving the funding the Normal Public Works Department will negotiate with a consulting engineer to determine requirements for the design and fees.
During Council discussion on the matter Councilman Stan Nord brought up flooding that occurred on the north branch of Sugar Creek in June of 2021.
Nord expressed his opinion that at the time of that flood the upstream Glen Avenue Bridge, which had recently been reconstructed, acted as a dam and bottlenecked the stream. Nord seemed to be insinuating that the bridge had been built smaller than the previous structure and made the flooding worse. He asked if the Franklin Avenue Bridge was going to be built wider?
Normal Mayor Chris Koos and City Manager Pam Reece were not able to answer his question in the affirmative because the new bridge has not yet been designed.
Cities 92.9 spoke with Normal Public Works Director Ryan Otto after the meeting to obtain more information on this topic.
June 25, 2021 saw massive flooding in Bloomington and Normal. Heavy rain dumped up to seven inches of rain in parts of McLean County. It was a 100 year flood event. This section of Sugar Creek in the subject area is in the 100 year flood plain. This means the area will flood when a 100 year event occurs.
The reconstructed Glen Avenue Bridge had more capacity than the previous structure. It did not act as a bottleneck.
Anytime bridge structures as significant as these are designed they must be approved by groups such as the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). These groups are very thorough when reviewing plans making sure that numerous concerns regarding hydrology are addressed. Various combinations of flooding possibilities are assessed.
In the case of the new Franklin Avenue Bridge, Normal’s Professional Engineers will direct the design by Professional Engineers working for a registered Engineering Consulting Firm. Plans will have to be approved by Professional Engineers working for IDOT, IDNR and the Army Corps of Engineers. The bridge will be designed so that it is the appropriate size, whatever that might turn out to be.
Normal pre qualifies consulting engineers before they choose a consultant for a project. They use a process called Quality Based Selection (QBS).
Interested companies submit qualifications in response to a Request for Qualifications (RFQ). Normal keeps each firms qualifications on file. After they receive the MFT money from IDOT, Normal will begin negotiations with the consultant best qualified for this project based on those previously submitted qualifications.
