The Chadron City Council has decided to move forward toward bidding a multi-million dollar project to upgrade the city’s storm sewer system through downtown and west along 1st Street.
When Al Hottovy of Leo A Daly in Omaha offered the original proposal early this year, the admittedly conservative estimate was $6.5-million dollars.
Hottovy says months of studies, including using tv cameras to check the condition of storm and sanitary sewer lines allowed the estimate to drop to $3.96-million…with the final bid price likely to be at least several hundred thousand dollars less than that as more details are finalized.
Hottovy says a key to the lower estimate was the discovery that the larger of 2 storm sewer lines on 1st Street…a 42″ pipe…is in good condition, allowing it to be used in parallel with a new 48″ line to expand the drainage capacity to handle a 100-year flood.
Both the 42″ and 48″ pipes will extend about a half-block beyond the end of the pavement at the west end of 1st Street where the current storm sewers empty into an open ditch. Hottovy says the extension will allow for a smoother discharge on into wetlands farther west.
Both the 100 and 200 blocks of Main Street and 1st Street from Main to Pine will be repaved with 6″ of concrete as part of the project, which Hottovy says should eliminate the need for any major street work on them for decades.
The project will also add a second 8″ water line on the west side of Main Street…paralleling the existing line on the east side and eliminate the need for long service line connections
One of the biggest concerns raised by city council members, downtown business owners, and other citizens when the storm sewer project was first suggested was the impact of closing Main Street through downtown, but Hottovy says the current proposal avoids that problem.
He says traffic will continue in both directions throughout the project with parking available on at least one side at nearly all times, although the location of the lanes and parking will change as the work progresses.
The proposed project will also replace a failing 18″ sanitary sewer line down 1st Street west of Main. Hottovy says the line uses clay pipes installed in the 1920’s, adding that the street and manholes are starting to subside in the areas where the current pipes are showing the most failure.
No timetable has been set for going to bid or construction, but the overall project is being timed to be completed before the state upgrades the drainage on 3rd Street-Highway 20 as part of a Nebraska Department of Roads repaving project.
Hottovy and NDOR district engineer Craig Lind say the highway project won’t go to bid until September 2014 at the earliest. The city’s cost-share for that project is a little over $1.2-million dollars.