Washington Historic Preservation Commission looking to repair Washington Boulevard

Washington Boulevard could potentially see renovations soon as the Historic Preservation Commission is looking to replace bricks along the roadway.

Bryan Kendall, Historic Preservation Commission chair, approached the Washington City Council Tuesday night to explain the project. He said the idea came about from the city adding fixing a water main line in the north lane of the boulevard to the FY21 budget. That fiscal year will begin on July 1, 2020.

The bricks around the water line need to be replaced anyway, and while the city is working on fixing the line, Kendall felt this would be an ideal time to replace the rest of the bricks along the roadway.

City Administrator Brent Hinson explained that Fox Engineering did a cost estimate in 2014 to put in a new water main and move it from the north lane to the center median.

'That has two positives to it,” he said. 'No. 1, you have to tear up very little brick to do that. No. 2, if we bore the water main we wouldn't take very many trees out.”

Hinson explained the biggest downfall of the project is the expense at $487,000 to bore in new service lines.

'That's the most expensive two blocks of water main you'll probably ever see,” he said. 'But the idea was that we wanted to do this in as sensitive a manner as possible.”

Because the entire west side of the street was inducted into the historic district, the commission is able to search for grants to pay for the repair of the bricks. Kendall asked for the council's support for a grant totaling $21,000, plus an in-kind match from the City of Washington for $19,000 and estimated the volunteer labor cost estimate to be around $2,000 for a projected estimated cost of the project to be $42,000.

The money would go toward brick and curbing repair, interpretive signage explaining the history of the area, professional consultation for street planning and supplies and materials needed for public events. In a memo Kendall sent to the council he explained that if approved, this would be the first time in over 100 years the council had to spend major money to fix the road.

'If this project is completed as planned, it will be the first time since 1906, with the exception of the recent water main breaks, that the city has spent more than $300 at one time for repairs,” he wrote.

Hinson explained that within the $487,000 estimate was money that would have gone toward fixing the brick torn up from construction. The council voted to approve sponsoring the project and will transfer the money already allotted in the FY21 budget to the Historic Preservation Commission. The tentative timeline for the project has a completion date of fall 2020.