Cost of Canal St. Project Leaps 158%; Poor Soil, Incomplete Estimate Boost Price of Rebuilding, Expanding to $52 Million

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The cost of rebuilding and expanding Canal St. has jumped 158%, from $20 million to nearly $52 million, Milwaukee officials will tell aldermen today.

Costs grew partly because of poor soil conditions in the Menomonee Valley, but also because the original estimate did not include several key components of the project, such as land acquisition, environmental cleanup and the costs of moving a railroad line out of the middle of the street, City Engineer Jeff Polenske said Monday.

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Cost of Canal St. Project Leaps 158%; Poor Soil, Incomplete Estimate Boost Price of Rebuilding, Expanding to $52 Million

And even though the Common Council approved each piece of the spending, nobody added up the pieces until now to give aldermen a running tally of how the price tag was growing, Polenske conceded.

"This is not a typical project," Polenske said. "There's a lot of different elements" ...

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