The city of Suwanee continues its work on the Buford Highway project, an effort to turn the corridor between McGinnis Ferry Road and George Pierce Park into a more downtown-esque area.
On Tuesday, council gave its approval for an additional $68,500 to cover unexpected expenses in design work by AECOM, the engineering firm doing the work.
"We've reviewed that and thought the (funding) request was appropriate," said Marty Allen, city manager.
Council also gave its approval to two funding items with Georgia Power to relocate power lines associated with the project.
"We have this agreement to reimburse (Georgia Power) for the cost they will entail moving those power lines," said Allen.
As it stands, the city will reimburse the power company for $1,015,627 -- 71-percent of the bill -- to relocate some of the power lines that run over the street, then foot another $135,910 to convert the existing overhead lines to underground ones.
Plans for the redevelopment of the corridor include the addition of bike lanes, sidewalks, medians and on-street parking, Allen said.
"It's taking a long time, as we expected, since it's using federal money (and) local money, which always extends the time frame, but we're on track for a spring let," which is when the city puts the contracts out for bid, Allen said.
He emphasized that the time frame is very loose at this point, since roadblocks like poor weather conditions could hamper their efforts, but tentatively, Allen said the project should be completed by early 2019.
As for the impact of the project, Allen said at the time it was announced that it would be more impactful than the city's Town Center Park.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/10/463266/suwanee-continues-work-on-buford-highway-project