Illinois Business Journal - Design costs increase as engineering projects wait on state budget money

Although earlier state dollars afforded engineering firms the "Opportunity" to perform preliminary design work on a host of major roadway projects across Southwestern Illinois, these projects still need the green light - in terms of funding for final design and construction - in the form of passage of the state's $3.2 billion capital budget.

Case in point: the Gateway Connector, a 37-mile-long outer belt that would wind from Troy south and west through St. Clair County to Interstate 255 near Columbia in Monroe County. Woolpert Inc. senior vice president Doug Sitton, whose firm is one of several partnering on the design and construction, says the project hasn't started yet because the capital funding hasn't been authorized.

"Our contract was part of the Opportunity Returns package that Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced for our region in December 2003," Sitton said. "What we still don't know is if they (the state of Illinois) are going to break the project up into several design packages or if they'll fund it as one. When you get into final design and construction, that could be a 20-year plan," he added.

Blagojevich's Opportunity Returns announcement for Southwestern Illinois included $130 million worth of transportation infrastructure funding. The dollars are not part of the Illinois Department of Transportation's seven-year funding program.

SCI Engineering Inc. is also a partner in the phase one design work. Vice president Marsia Geldert-Murphey said the project is still due $10 million in fees from the state of Illinois.

There are more major regional roadway efforts still red-lighted. The Jerseyville Bypass, also know as the U.S. 67 extension, was on the list of Opportunity Returns projects announced 26 months ago and promised $23 million. Oates Associates is leading the engineering work on the span of 67 north to Jerseyville.

"We were selected by the state to do the design on this portion of the bypass," said president David Oates. "That's a pretty significant design project for us and the couple of consultants on the team. Costs, both in engineering and construction, go up every year, so the longer these projects are delayed, the more the costs escalate."

Time is money, local engineers agree. Costs of delaying these projects wreak havoc for engineering firms not only in terms of salaries and materials, said Oates, but also in non-salaried expenses.

"Our insurance - both liability and health insurance - increases exponentially with multi-year project delays," he said.

An IDOT project to widen Illinois Rte. 127 from Interstate 64 to the northern city limits of Nashville, being designed by Juneau Associates Inc. and SCI, is also in limbo pending passage of the state's capital budget.

"We (multiple engineering firms) were all selected in Spring 2004 and have been on hold ever since," SCI's Geldert-Murphey said.

Rte. 127 project engineer Brian Kulick of Juneau Associates said the preliminary estimate of construction cost is $3 million.

"I think a lot of it (stalled state-funded transportation projects) seems to be tied to the reimbursement or match of federal funds and the state of Illinois not being in the position of having the matching funds," said firm president Charlie Juneau. "You need money to get money."

Governors' Parkway in Edwardsville is also on the list of projects waiting in the wings. It was promised $14 million more than two years ago to fund a center turn lane to the new thoroughfare between I-55 and Illinois Rte. 157.

Mark Everett, manager of Burns & McDonnell's Illinois office in O'Fallon, says the proposed Union Hill Road extension and a brand-new interchange at Interstate 64 in Fairview Heights was allocated roughly $1 million in Opportunity Returns dollars toward the $1.25 million first phase of the design in the two-phase project. "This project is also waiting on approval from the Federal Highway Administration," he said.