by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The price tag of the western extension of the Northbank Riverwalk continues to grow, but City officials say the added costs are expected and there are more to come.
A change order approval request was recently submitted by the Public Works Department in the amount of $640,000 for work on the riverfront property in front of the YMCA on Riverside Avenue. The funds will pay for the contractor to widen the easement (which was donated by the YMCA), install the concrete portion of the Riverwalk and landscape the section. Work began Jan. 28 and the contractor, Military Construction Corp., has 300 days to complete the project.
“In our overall build out, we couldn’t award the bid to the contractor without having the easement,” said Ed Hall, deputy director of Public Works, explaining the original bid allows the City to allocate funds once land is acquired.
Once finished, the western extension of the Riverwalk will extend 1.75 miles from the CSX building to the Fuller Warren Bridge. The $640,000 change order brings the current tab to $6,734,900.
Hall said the City is currently negotiating easement rights with four other property owners and it will cost another $494,000 to develop those easements.
“We are also holding on awarding the section along Riverside Park Place, estimated to cost $614,000, until JEA completes utility upgrades in the area,” said Hall. “The value of all work planned, including the current construction contract, is $8,042,900.”
The western extension includes perhaps the most interesting, and challenging, project within the entire Northbank Riverwalk, which will eventually extend from Metropolitan Park, past The Shipyards, Berkman Plaza, the Adam’s Mark Hotel, the Landing and west to the Fuller Warren. A 900-foot, ADA-compliant bridge section will be built. The span will stretch from just past CSX, over the Florida East Coast railroad track and end about the middle of the Times-Union property.
“The first phase of construction [on that section] will be the esplanade, or walk along the river, with minimum upland connections,” explained Hall.
The new section will be 12 feet wide and have dozens of 14-foot light fixtures, benches, trash cans and trees and shrubs on both sides.
Hall said throughout the project, the same design and materials are being used on both sides of the river.
“We are after a consistent look,” he said. “We want people to have the ability to stroll on the Riverwalk, sit down and enjoy nice views, lighting and landscaping. The ultimate terminus is Riverside Park.”