Today the Star has an article on the progress of selecting a design-build contractor for the Paseo Bridge project. There is much discussion about the secretive nature of the process, which is a consequence of using the design-build strategy. More interesting are the results of MoDOT’s public survey about the bridge.

It shows strong public interest in bicycle and pedestrian access on the bridge. In fact, more people plan to avoid bridge construction by bicycling than by carpooling, telecommuting, or taking the bus! And the survey comments included more requests for bike/ped access than just about anything else.

• KC Star: Planning for Paseo Bridge improvements being kept secret
• Public Survey Results

Friday, Aug. 24, 2007
Planning for Paseo Bridge improvements being kept secret
By BRAD COOPER
The Kansas City Star

With construction less than a year away, there’s a lot we don’t know about the rebuilding of the landmark Paseo Bridge across the Missouri River.

What will it look like? Will it close during construction, and for how long? Will it have a bike lane? How will construction affect one of Kansas City’s oldest and most ethnically diverse neighborhoods, Columbus Park?

Those details and more will be determined this summer outside the eyes of the general public. Because the state is using a different process from how most Missouri highways are built, the answers won’t be known until the contract is awarded Nov. 14.

The project calls for upgrading or replacing the 53-year-old Paseo Bridge and widening four miles of Interstates 29/35 from the Northland into the interstate loop around downtown.

Missouri usually builds highways by designing the project, putting it out for public comment and then bidding it to a construction company. For the Paseo, the state is wrapping the construction and design into one $245 million contract.

The goal: Get it done faster and cheaper.

But in trying to get the most bridge for the buck, there’s a tradeoff. You don’t get to see the details of the project until it’s practically a done deal.

State highway officials have surveyed nearby residents, and a committee of civic leaders has been advising the state on the project.

But without knowing the details, it’s hard for the larger community to voice its ideas, said Mell Henderson, director of transportation for the Mid-America Regional Council.

The process — called design-build — allows the two bidding teams to work behind the scenes to come up with a design and construction plan acceptable to the state.

It’s in their confidential proposals where the bidders will spell out what the bridge will look like, how they’ll manage traffic during construction and how they’ll work with the public.

“I am not entirely convinced that the general public has a very strong sense at this point of the full scope and impact of the project,” said urban planner Daniel Serda, one of a dozen community leaders on the advisory committee.

“There are any number of unknowns,” Serda said. “But those who have anxiety about them are those who are going to be most immediately impacted. That includes people who live close to there and people who have businesses in the corridor.”

Officials from the Missouri Department of Transportation acknowledge that the new process changes how they gather public input.

“We’re in such a compressed schedule,” said department spokeswoman Jennifer Benefield.

The Mid-America Regional Council is encouraging MoDOT and the two bidders to respond to the community even after the contract is awarded in November.

Benefield said that once the contractor is selected, two months of negotiations will follow to refine details.But in the meantime, the process is highly guarded. Each advisory committee member had to sign a confidentiality agreement vowing not to disclose any details about the selection process. A leak could derail the project.

“MoDOT has brought us into their bosom, so to speak,” said Northland civic leader Tim Kristl, a member of the advisory panel. “They’ve told us things that are going on that are private. While we can’t disclose those, we can be the community’s eyes and ears.”

MoDOT, meanwhile, spent about $10,000 soliciting, collecting and tabulating public comments this summer from 464 people who will be affected by the project.