The Mill Street underpass project took another step forward Tuesday night when the City Council passed an ordinance that will speed up land appraisals that must be completed to purchase land for the project.

The underpass will allow traffic to flow under the railroad tracks near Illinois Avenue at Mill Street when a train is passing through Carbondale. City officials have said the underpass will ease traffic congestion and sometimes get emergency vehicles to their destinations quicker since they will not have to wait for trains to pass.

The council voted unanimously to allow city manager Jeff Doherty to strike a deal with Greg Zieba to join another appraiser already working on the project.

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The appraisers must determine the value of several tracts of land near Freeman Street and Illinois Avenue needed for the construction of the underpass. After a value is determined, the actual buying price is negotiated with land owners until an agreement is made.

Doherty said the extra appraiser will make the land acquisition process go faster but will not make it more expensive because there is no additional work being done.

Mayor Neil Dillard called the move another step toward completing a very big project.

City engineer Larry Miles said there is no way to predict how long the land acquisition will take.

It’s impossible to really give a good guess because it depends on how receptive the owners are, he said.

At least one land owner has not been receptive to the acquistion process.

Landlord Carol Morrison, who requested to be bought out early, said the $92,500 offer for her land was not acceptable. The early buyouts started about a year ago. The other buyouts started recently, Doherty said.

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The city has since filed an Eminent Domain suit in March asking the court to transfer the land to the city and determine what fair compensation for the tracts is.

Morrison filed a lawsuit against the city and Doherty last year seeking compensation for damages she claims occured when the city moved her tenants out last summer.

City officials have said they followed proper procedure for acquiring Morrison’s land.

City Attorney Sharon Hammer said she could not comment on the suits because they are still pending litigation.

When the land is finally acquired Miles said construction would be the only phase left in the project. He said there are still details to be ironed out in the design plans but said he expected the design to be approved long before the land acquisition is complete.

Miles said the construction would probably take two to three years to complete but that workers would not work throughout that time because of winter weather.

The total cost of the underpass will be between $8.5 million and $9 million. About $6 million of this will be for the construction phase, he said.

The Federal Highway Administration will cover 95 percent of the costs. The city, Illinois Central Railroad, the Illinois Department of Transportation and SIUC will cover the remaining costs.

SIUC Chancellor Ted Sanders said the University will pay their share of the project with land needed for the project and that SIUC would not be dispersing any cash for the underpass.