City applying for nearly $2 million grant to update traffic signals along Eighth, 12th

QUINCY — The city will be applying to receive a grant to upgrade traffic signals along Eighth Street and 12^thStreet.

Aldermen voted during Monday’s Quincy City Council meeting to submit an application to the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation grant program to fully fund Phase 1 of the Quincy Enhanced Signal Technology-2030 Program, which includes the implementation of Intelligent Transportation System software and upgrading traffic signals.

The application would be for a $1,922,800 grant for Phase 1, which calls for implementing the system on Eighth Street from Broadway south to Maine, and on 12th Street from Broadway south to Jefferson. Phase 2 grants are up to $15 million and may require a match. The awarding of a Phase 2 grant would come only after receiving a Phase 1 grant. 

The city’s goal is to get all the city’s traffic signals upgraded by 2030. 

The QuEST‐2030 Program was developed to attain the following goals: 

• Installation of vehicle and pedestrian detection devices on all City of Quincy traffic signals.
• Updating traffic signal timing and the coordination of timing between traffic signals. 
• Automation of traffic signal malfunction reporting. 
• Incorporate the City’s signals into the Illinois Department of Transportation traffic signal system. 

“It would be similar to the traffic signals IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) has going along Broadway,” city engineer Steve Bange said. “Currently, those two corridors, especially at Vermont and Hampshire, those signals are all run by timers only. There’s no interconnection between the signals coming off Broadway. 

“If there’s a queue of cars coming from Broadway going south, and then they hit Vermont, that signal doesn’t know I have a bunch of cars coming my way and I need to turn the light green to get them on through.”

Bange said the cameras are used to detect the cars and possibly count the cars going through the intersections.

Aldermen also voted to spend $42,725 on a professional services contract to continue the use of LocalGov.org for the food and beverage and hotel-motel tax collection system. City treasurer Linda Moore said the city collects about $3 million in these taxes, with two-thirds coming from the food and beverage tax. 

“This is a software platform that allows all of our hotels, motels, restaurants and bars to pay their local 1 percent tax right from their computer in their office 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Moore said.

Aldermen voted to spend $137,000 with Crawford, Murphy and Tilly of Springfield to redesign the Phase 3 Water Supply Improvement Project, which consists of modifications and improvements to the existing pump station that will allow for the elevation of pumps above the 500-year flood level. 

“Both the raw water pumps, which come from the river, and the finished water pumps, which pump into the distribution system, must be raised above the 500-year flood level,” Director of Public Works Jeffrey conte said.  “In addition to making some other modifications, we’re dealing with an electrical switch here and motor controls that are from 1957. They are obsolete, and if one of them were to fail, that would be very expensive and difficult to prepare.”

The City Council rejected in June all bids for the original project, which included the demolition of the existing water treatment plant pump station and construction of a new pump station out of the flood plain. Bids for the original design came in at $12.4 million, but the budget was only $7.5 million.

Aldermen also agreed to:

• Pay a $18,171 invoice from Mullen Coughlin, LLC, for legal fees incurred from the May 7 cyberattack on the city. Mayor Mike Troup said the invoice is for legal advice the city has received “to guide us through everything that we need to do to comply with federal state regulations and protect personal information.” Troup said he believes the hacker was from eastern Europe.
• Trade in three vehicles and buy one 2023 Ford Edge and one 2023 Ford Police Interceptor from Bob Ridings Fleet Sales in Taylorville for a cost of $76,758. 
• Approve a $9,250 quote from Beazley Syndicates at Lloyd’s for the renewal of required fuel storage tank liability insurance.
• Table a resolution to approve electric aggregation rates from the city’s electric aggregation consultant, Southern Illinois Municipal Electric Company.