The District’s engineer will be paid a lump sum of $5,000 to design and come up with specifications for the planned markings to improve visibility on the multi-modal paths in The Villages.
Kimley-Horn & Associates Inc. is being tasked with working up the language for bid/requests for proposal for the planned markings at islands and other trickier sections of the paths to navigate.
The $5,000 bill is in addition to the $6,500 traffic study prepared by Kimley-Horn earlier this year. That study set in motion months of debate over side striping on the multi-modal paths. Ultimately, the Project Wide Advisory Committee, the Amenity Authority Committee and Community Development Districts 1 through 4, abandoned the idea of side striping after public outcry over the more than $300,000 pricetag.
Early estimates for the enhanced markings on the multi-modal paths indicate the work could top $25,000.
At Thursday morning’s CDD 7 meeting, some supervisors wondered out loud about the possibility of seeking another engineering opinion. CDD 4 already has taken some steps to seek out the opinion of an additional traffic engineer to look at issues on the multi-modal paths.
Earlier this week, PWAC greenlighted Kimley-Horn for coming up with a scope of services to address the problem of erosion on the ground under the Lake Sumter Bridge. A price for the engineering study for that project has not been determined.
District Manager Janet Tutt said there are advantages to piggybacking on Sumter County, which also uses Kimley-Horn. She said there are also benefits to using an engineer familiar with The Villages. Kimley-Horn has been working in The Villages for well over a decade.
