ADRIAN — Designers, contractors and Adrian city officials are hopeful that by September 2023 there should be a completed pedestrian tunnel as part of the Kiwanis Trail. 

The tunnel is being designed to connect the current southern end of the Kiwanis Trail at South Main Street just north of Beecher Street to the trail's new east side extension along the Adrian & Blissfield Rail Road tracks.

An update on the project and a proposed timeline for construction was presented to the Adrian City Commission during its Monday premeeting work study.

Adrian officials have sought a tunnel to cross Main Street due to the amount of traffic and the number of collisions at the Main and Beecher intersection, which would be the pedestrian crossing for the trail without the tunnel. Adrian city officials lobbied state officials in 2021 to have the tunnel funding included in the state’s 2021-22 budget.

The state’s budget year, which began Oct. 1, included $3.5 million for the east-west connection tunnel. Now, however, estimated project costs appear to be more than $4 million and climbing, according to the report provided Monday by Dan Sorek, project manager for the civil engineering firm Prein & Newhof.

Delays in construction work, supply chain issues and slowdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the projected costs of the tunnel, Sorek said while presenting to the commission virtually. The construction window for when the engineering firm would like to begin breaking ground and getting the site ready would be late in the winter and early in the spring of 2023. There are about six weeks left to complete all needed design work, he said, before the Kiwanis Trail tunnel project will go out to bid.

It is his hope, Sorek said, the bid will be opened before Labor Day.

Thus far, the budget for the tunnel sits at $3.8 million in construction, $575,000 in engineering and $130,000 for utilities relocation. Sources of funding include the Michigan Legislature, the Congress and private donations.

The proposed schedule for the Kiwanis Trail tunnel project is:

Further design work that needs to take place over the next several weeks includes adding staircases to either side of the tunnel, making sure the tunnel and the trail meet all Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, adding additional parking to the trailhead, and putting into place a large, aluminum picket fence retaining wall next to the Mobil gas station at 587 S. Main St.. that would separate the business from the path.

The tunnel itself, Sorek said, is about 140-160 feet in length from end to end. The tunnel opening will have a clearance 14 feet high and 16 feet wide.

The area of the tunnel will be well lit, Sorek added, noting that designers of the project have heard concerns from city officials and residents about the possibility of walking through poorly lit and dark sections of the tunnel. Various lighting structures will be utilized inside and outside of the tunnel, he said — all of the lighting being LED. Security cameras will be installed.

Once construction is underway, crews will eventually reach South Main Street. At that point, the street will be temporarily shifted from four lanes down to two lanes, for both north and south traffic. The closure, if everything stays on track, should happen sometime in June 2023, Sorek said, which is optimal timing, as that way work crews and motorists will not have to deal with traffic congestion from summer events such as race weekend at Michigan International Speedway and the Faster Horses music festival.

“We’ll coordinate all closures and street reductions, and plan accordingly,” he said.

The target date of opening the tunnel is around Labor Day 2023.

“There’s still a lot of work to do,” Sorek said.

Adrian City Administrator Greg Elliott said the city will host an open house in July at City Chambers, 159 E. Maumee St., so the public can have more of an opportunity to hear about and understand the progress of the tunnel.

When funding for the tunnel was authorized as part of the state’s budget, Lenawee County’s representatives praised Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s decision. 

“I’m pleased to see a local Lenawee County investment being made in our state budget," state Rep. Bronna Kahle, R-Adrian, said in a previous statement. "The East-West Connection Tunnel project will help connect the two areas of our town, further uniting us as friends and neighbors.”