Board approves funds for design of pedestrian tunnels

By TARA LAYNE
Goshen News Staff Writer

August 21, 2007 10:07 am

— Goshen officials Monday approved an additional $26,000 in design work needed for the planned pedestrian tunnels at Plymouth Avenue and Goshen College.
Bob McCoige, the city’s director of public works, said the additional cost is the result of new federal and state requirements. The cost of the survey will be $349,450.
DLZ Indiana has been hired to complete the design and topographic survey for both the Goshen College bicycle/pedestrian railroad underpass and the Plymouth Avenue bicycle pedestrian tunnel. McCoige told the Board of Public Works and Safety that construction on the projects could begin in 2009.
The board also approved several recommendations by the mayor’s traffic commission.
Approved were:
• A request by the Parkside Neighborhood Association to have a “No Trucks” sign installed on East Jackson Street. According to neighborhood residents, several trucks are utilizing the street to get to the industrial area on the east side of the railroad tracks.
• A request by Juan Lora, owner of Best Dry Cleaners, 209 W. Lincoln Ave., to have two parking spaces in front of the business designated as 15-minute parking.
Lora said many drivers park there while visiting inmates at the Elkhart County Jail.
The traffic commission had recommended denial of the request, but the Board of Public Works and Safety agreed to O.K. the request with the stipulation that the sign be allowed only until the jail moves its prisoners to the new jail.
• A request by Keith Wortinger to place a stop sign and pavement markings at the north/south alley on the west side of the Farm Bureau Credit Union on Monroe Street. Wortinger was hit by a car while on his motorcycle in that alley.
• A request to switch parking from the east side of 10th Street to the west side of the street between Purl Street and Reynolds Street. Goshen Community Schools and Gleason Industries are working together to allow Gleason’s truck traffic to exit onto 10th Street from the east/west alley between Reynolds and Purl streets.
Respond: (574) 533-2151, ext. 313
tara.layne@goshennews.com