St. Charles councilmen say let’s get Red Gate Bridge bids

St. Charles’ Red Gate Bridge project took another step closer to reality with a city council vote signifying a leap of faith in state funding for the project.

The city council’s Government Services Committee unanimously voted to seek bids for construction of the bridge Monday night. The vote followed a presentation on both the plans and funding for what is now estimated to be a $30 million crossing over the Fox River for both cars and pedestrians.

The city staff sold the plan to the committee as having 45 percent of that price tag set to be paid through a mixture of federal, state and county grant money. But the catch is the lion’s share of that grant money is only a promise at this point.

The city has already spent all the federal dollars it’s received for the project and about $3.8 million total on the planning, engineering, permitting and land acquisition. It has about $7 million for the project in the bank. Just about all of that comes from the special property tax levy the city created to help fund the project. That levy nets about $800,000 a year for the bridge.

All the rest of the money needed for the project is a mix of state grants and money the city will borrow via a bond issuance. The level of borrowing the city must do relies on how much of the state grants materialize.

Mayor Don DeWitte recently sent a letter to citizens decrying a potential state sweep of municipal income tax dollars. But neither the council members nor DeWitte expressed any doubt about getting the state grant money.

“We are confident and have confirmed that current IDOT money for this project is in place and appropriated,” DeWitte said after the meeting.

Even if all the state grants come in, city taxpayers will still be on the hook for at least $5.4 million in borrowing to fill the funding gap on the project. The borrowing could increase to $7.3 million if a grant the city just applied for doesn’t come through this September.

The bridge is set for completion in November 2012. Once complete, it will host local traffic with an eye for alleviating congestion on St. Charles’ Main Street while sending large, heavy trucks to the other new Fox River crossing recently opened by Kane County, the Stearns Road Bridge.

Public Works Director Mark Koenen told the committee the Red Gate Bridge is still needed even with the nearby Stearns Road Bridge. Traffic counts on Main Street have decreased from a weekday high of more than 44,000 cars in 2009 to about 38,000 cars as of April of this year.

Koenen attributed the bulk of the decrease to the bad economy and higher gas prices cutting into people traveling to and from work and perhaps more carpooling. Koenen did say he thought the Stearns Road Bridge has had some impact on decreasing St. Charles’ traffic woes, but not enough to eliminate the need for Red Gate Bridge.