The community has been talking about the lackluster appearance of the Melarkey Street/Winnemucca Boulevard intersection for the last 20 years, according to City Manager/Engineer Steve West.
Residents can finally look forward to a makeover.
The city, county and Winnemucca Convention and Visitors Authority voted at a joint meeting Monday to move forward with a beautification project even though the cost exceeds the budget for all three entities and won't include all the items in the original design.
Each entity unanimously voted to contribute its third of the project as long as the total cost does not exceed $550,000 (approximately $183,000 each). Last July, each board approved a budget of $157,333 for the project. West attributes the cost increase to a project that evolved from its initial form.
"Originally, it was more simple," he said, adding the architecture firm hired to do the drawings (CTA Architects) typically does more elaborate projects in bigger cities so the project was designed to those standards.
West said the city hoped bids would come in around $500,000, but the lowest bid received was from Hunewill for $740,000. The other bid was close in cost, he said. In order to get the project cost closer to the original budget, some of the "attractive" items had to be eliminated from the design.
The city has spent the last several weeks working with the architects to reduce the cost and came back with a list of items to be eliminated: the crosswalk impressions that were meant to imitate pavers; decorative walls on two of the street corners; relocation of an unsightly traffic box; and decorative bollards and benches.
Council member Paige Brooks asked what would the intersection get out of the project if all of those elements are eliminated? West said the intersection would still get new sidewalks, landscaping, relocation of the crosswalks and pavers on the street corners.
"It really is much improved," he said.
WCVA board member Don Stoker asked how much it would cost to retain the decorative corner walls.
Mayor Di An Putnam said it would cost around $55,000, including the electrical work that would be required for the lights in the walls.
"(The walls) were important - the part that said 'welcome,'" Putnam said. "That's a heartbreak if we have to take those away."
West said another option would be to finish the walls in stucco instead of stones, a potential savings of $10,000. West agreed the walls make a big difference in the intersection design.
Another "deleted" item that members of all three boards were concerned about was the traffic box on the Sundance Casino corner of the intersection. West said funds saved by using stucco instead of stone could possibly be used to make the box more attractive, even though it isn't feasible to move it.
Commissioner Jim French agreed the walls are an important part of the design, and said "by settling we are losing some of the effect."
Putnam said the cost would fall right around $540,000 if stucco walls were put back in the design and something was done to make the traffic box less of an eyesore.
All three boards agreed that was a good compromise and voted unanimously to contribute one-third of a total project cost not to exceed $550,000.[[In-content Ad]]
