Construction on a $940,170 water and sewer improvement project along Railroad Street is scheduled to begin this week.
The project includes installation of 1,850 lineal feet of 18-inch diameter sewer main line pipe and 1,562 lineal feet of 10-inch water main line pipe along Railroad and Oak Streets.
The sewer main will parallel and existing sewer main and will add capacity to the system. This main will primarily serve the area northeast of Chetco Avenue and Oak Streets. The water main will replace an older four-inch main. The larger main will increase the City’s capacity to serve the Railroad Street area and improve fire flow.
Funding for the $657,575 sewer main will come from System Development Charges (SDC) collected from new development, while funding for the water main will come from System Replacement Fees (SRF) funded from the monthly water capital surcharge collected from City water customers.
The contract was awarded to Tidewater Contractors, Inc. of Brookings, who was the lowest responsible bidder.
Construction is expected to take place over the winter and into the spring as the contractor has until May 2017 to complete the project.
“We need to get this work completed in advance of the Railroad Street reconstruction project, which is slated to begin about mid-year,” City Manager Gary Milliman said.
The street reconstruction will occur between Oak and Wharf Streets, and will include the construction of two travel lanes and a center turn lane; curb, gutter and sidewalk on both sides of the street; elimination of roadside ditches and installation of storm drains. There will also be some realignment of intersecting streets and the installation of at least one water quality swale.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is contributing $2.010 million to the $2.6 million street project.
“We are in the process of transitioning this project from ODOT management to City management,” Milliman said. “This should reduce the overall cost as we will not have the expense of having ODOT engineers and inspectors on-site during construction. And this will also enable us to utilize the City’s standard specifications.”
City staff is now contacting property owners along the street to initiate the process of obtaining temporary construction easements and, in some cases, permanent easements and purchase of land needed to improve the street alignment and install bioswales.
“We will also be scheduling a public workshop on the project to interact with property owners and businesses along Railroad Street that will be affected by changes in the parking configuration and driveway locations,” Milliman said. No meeting dates have been set.
Milliman said City staff has been working with ODOT engineers and the design engineer to reduce the estimated cost of the project to fit the budget. “Construction costs have risen since we first applied for grant funding in 2013, and we are also now dealing with new storm water regulatory issues,” Milliman said, noting that the City will now have to construct one or two engineered bioswales to handle projected storm water run-off to reduce discharge into the storm drain system and the ocean.