Asheboro Council to seek federal funding for new roundabout, connector road

ASHEBORO — The Asheboro City Council approved the submission of an application for the U.S. Department of Transportation BUILD grant program during its January meeting.

“It’s mainly focused on funding projects that will have a significant local or regional impact and improve transportation infrastructure,” grant writer Nate Marsh said.

The program has a total of $1.5 billion available in funding and has been issued since 2009.

Marsh said the program looks at a variety of merit categories when selecting projects, namely safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, mobility and community connectivity, economic competitiveness and opportunity, state of good repair, partnership and collaboration and innovation.

For the application, the council opted to submit plans for a roundabout near the Zoo City Sportsplex.

The project is estimated to cost $20 million and will establish a new connector road between Zoo Parkway and Browers Chapel Road.

“This would improve the mobility and community connectivity aspect and also it could provide future residential development opportunities,” Marsh said.

The council also approved working with Metz Solutions, recommended by the City of Hickory, as they’ve helped apply for and receive this specific grant previously.

“There has never been a project funded that did not have some local match,” city manager Donald Duncan said.

The council also approved a master agreement for on-call engineering services, something the city didn’t previously have.

“The Minibrooks Act governs how we as a municipality can solicit professional services, engineering services in particular,” said Michael Rhoney, water resources director. “It’s a qualifications-based process.”

The on-call list provides Asheboro with a pre-checked list of qualified firms, in essence allowing for faster and more immediate responses for needed engineering work.

“What happens is when we have a project come along, we will issue a task order, they get that task order, they send a scope of services, we agree to a price and then we can continue with the project,” Rhoney said. “This just streamlines the process.”

Out of 16 statements of qualifications that they received, city staff whittled the list down to five firms: Ardurra Group, HDR Engineering, Hazen and Sawyer, Glynn Fleming and Freese and Nichols.

According to Rhoney, the city has worked with all the firms previously and all five have agreed to the city’s terms in the master agreement.

The agreement will be for three years, with the option to extend for one additional year twice.

Finally, the council approved a new parking plan for Peachtree Street.

“We were asked to develop a parking plan in response to communication the city received from a resident of the Peachtree Neighborhood, asking us to take some action to improve safety on Peachtree Street,” said assistant city manager Trevor Nuttall. “We talked to the police department, engineering, code enforcement, all about this.”

The plan covers the area on Peachtree Street from the railroad track to Chestnut Street, where, according to Nuttall, the most complaints and issues have been located.

The plan will allow on-street parking on the west side of Peachtree Street from the railroad to 70 feet from the center line of the Chestnut Street intersection, while prohibiting on-street parking on the east side of the street.

“This would serve to preserve adequate two-way traffic while still providing opportunities for parking on the street within the block,” Nuttall said.

The Asheboro City Council will next meet Feb. 5.