Parkway reconstruction done early, but takes toll on businesses
Reconstruction of Burnsville Parkway was the “nail in the coffin” for the closed Burnsville Parkway BP station, says its former owner. Photo by Rick Orndorf
Contractor will get $100,000 bonus for quick work
by John Gessner
Thisweek Newspapers
The heavy construction is over, all lanes are reopened and the drive is now smooth as glass.
This summer’s reconstruction of Burnsville Parkway came at an attractive price to taxpayers, with a $100,000 bonus going to the contractor for finishing the job early. Smooth blacktop replaced crumbling concrete pavement.
“It was in terrible condition,” said Ryan Peterson, Burnsville’s assistant city engineer.
But there was a price paid by Burnsville Parkway businesses, mostly those along the south side of the road between Nicollet Avenue and Aldrich, just west of Interstate 35W.
One business closed this summer and another one will, their owners saying that construction finally doomed their already-struggling ventures.
City Council Member Dan Kealey says the city didn’t do enough with signs to guide motorists to driveways that remained open when traffic was down to one lane in each direction.
Even if signage had been better, traffic volume fell as motorists avoided the construction zone by using alternative east-west routes such as Highway 13 and McAndrews Road.
“Most agreed that overall traffic volume, not scientifically gauged, had to be down by 50 percent or greater,” said Daron Van Helden, Burnsville Chamber of Commerce president.
The Burnsville Parkway BP station at 501 W. Burnsville Parkway closed on June 18. The nearby Oasis Market had been closed before construction began.
Burnsville Parkway BP owners Joe and Cathy Thompson bought the station about two years ago and made spending cuts to make the business profitable, Joe said.
It’s hard enough for an independent dealer to compete with low chain-store gas prices, Thompson said.
The tough economy and some would-be customers’ negative reaction to BP’s Gulf oil spill undoubtedly hurt business, he said.
“The construction was pretty much the nail in the coffin,” Thompson said. “Who do you blame for something like that? The city has to fix their roads. You really can’t blame anybody. It’s for the good of everybody. … Things happen to businesses for the good and things happen for the bad. You have to be able to roll with either, unfortunately.”
The station will likely reopen soon, said Thompson, who has a sale pending with another independent BP dealer.
Tony Marvets, owner of Anthony’s Parkway Grille at 251 W. Burnsville Parkway, said he probably wouldn’t have attempted a fine-dining restaurant at that location had he known about the construction project when he bought the building.
Marvets said he learned of the project last November, after purchasing the former Benchwarmer Bob’s Sports Cafe building in July 2009. His new venture opened in September.
“For restaurants, their make-or-break time is that first year,” said Marvets, who also owns the nearby Bumper’s Restaurant and Sports Bar at 12930 Harriet Ave. S. “We struggled out of the gate all the way to construction, and then construction cut our business in half.”
Marvets plans to shutter Anthony’s Parkway Grille at the end of this month and reopen it, with a partner, as a Carbone’s Pizza and Sports Bar. The building’s lower level will be refashioned as an event center and continue to host the MinneHAHA Comedy Club, Marvets said.
He said he’s better at “bar food and pizza” than fine dining.
Access issues
The city didn’t do enough when construction began to protect businesses, Council Member Kealey said.
“They did have access,” he said. “The problem was no one anticipated that access looking so badly that people didn’t think they had access. The road construction was so messy that, even though you could actually drive to those businesses, a typical driver coming into the area wouldn’t have guessed that and would have avoided it. I think we didn’t do a good enough job of lining those areas of access with proper identification, or more identification.”
On June 22, with business owners complaining, the City Council voted to suspend all sign regulations in the construction zone until the work is substantially completed.
Some businesses immediately responded with roadside sandwich-board signs. But it was too late, and work on the south lanes fronting the businesses was nearly finished by then anyway, Kealey said.
He favors extending the loosened sign regulations for Burnsville Parkway businesses, “because they’ve got some recovery to do.”
Early completion
The contractor, Palda and Sons Inc., will get a $100,000 bonus for finishing most of the work early, said Peterson, the assistant city engineer. The bonus is on top of the company’s $5.8 million base bid.
“The idea was to make it go as fast as possible, to get people to want to come back to the area as quickly as possible,” Peterson said. “We expected traffic would be down, which it certainly was, which affected businesses.”
The company promised to have all lanes reopened in 65 working days, Peterson said. Alda reached that point in 53 working days, on Aug. 7, qualifying for a $10,000 bonus for each working day ahead of schedule. The city also relaxed its construction hours to speed the project. Alda was one of seven bidders.
“I would say from a public works perspective, the project went very well,” Peterson said. “It was a million dollars below our estimated cost. To get that many contractors bidding makes it a great time for government agencies to do big jobs like this.”
Notification and meetings with business owners began in November 2009, he said.
Some work remains. Concrete pavement will be laid in the Burnsville Parkway/Nicollet Avenue intersection. The watermain in the intersection will be replaced.
A fourth and final layer of blacktop will be laid along the entire construction zone in late September and possibly early October, Peterson said.
The intersection will be closed for construction from Aug. 27 to Aug. 30. It will reopen by 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 30.
The entire reconstruction included curb replacement, watermain replacement, sewer and drainage improvements and landscaping, including median trees.
John Gessner is at burnsville.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.
This is absurd. Why are my tax dollars being spent on a $100,000 bonus for a project that CLEARLY is not done. The final grade of the parkway is still at least an inch lower than it needs to be. There are a couple areas that are completely UNFINISHED. (W. Frontage RD, and W. Travelers Tr.) You state that a 4th and final layer will be laid in late Sep, possibly early Oct. How can a bonus be paid for completing a project that is clearly NOT COMPLETE???!!!
The $100,000 should have been split between all the businesses that suffered during this whole mess but as is usually the case those that suffer the effects caused by others get screwed in the end. Besides what idiot agress to pay out a bonus when the job isn’t even done to completion on time. O ya that idiot is Elizabeth Kuntz we in Burnsville refer to her as the Queen B.