ANN ARBOR, MI — Ann Arbor is gearing up for a $1.2 million project to pave a dirt and gravel road on the city’s west side with a fresh coat of asphalt.
City Council voted 10-0 to approve the Russell Street project last week, responding to concerns from the Ann Arbor Housing Commission about stormwater runoff from the road spilling onto its Maple Meadows low-income housing property, located off Maple Road just south of Liberty Street.
The dirt and gravel roadway runs along the apartment complex for about 475 feet, going from Maple Road back to South Maple Park, with the apartments sitting at a lower elevation from where the landscape slopes down from the road.
The Housing Commission raised concerns about the stormwater runoff situation in 2019 and the city’s engineering staff determined the only way to adequately address the situation is to pave the street and add curbs and gutters.
Construction is expected to start this month and be substantially complete by November, with restoration of lawn areas to be done by next spring, City Engineer Nick Hutchinson said.
The city plans to put about $423,000 in city stormwater funds and nearly $6,000 in city water funds toward the project, along with $676,000 in federal grants and nearly $123,000 from Washtenaw County’s Office of Community and Economic Development.
As a member of the Washtenaw Urban County, the city receives annual Community Development Block Grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Hutchinson explained in a memo to council. Each year, an action plan is prepared by the OCED to outline activities to be carried out with those funds, and for the past three years funds have been set aside for the Russell Street project, which will be done by Fonson Company Inc., he said.
While the total project cost is shown as $1.2 million, the construction contract with Fonson amounts to $892,109, along with a $90,000 contingency for change orders.
Council separately voted to approve $21,500 to replace an asphalt path that’s in poor condition with a new concrete sidewalk between Yorkshire Road and Allen Elementary School. That work will be done by the Doan Construction Co., which already is under contract performing similar work on city sidewalks, Hutchinson said.
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