By Chris Moore

chris.moore@panews.com

 

NEDERLAND — The city of Nederland will soon undertake the most expensive project in recent history by revamping sewer lines.

The City Council voted to raise residents’ utility rates to pay for the project in October. The debt issued for the project comes in at just under $10 million, City Manager Chris Duque said.

He said the city has planned the project for two years.

“In about 2016, we started the study over sewer issues around town,” he said. “You could see where the roots were going through the pipes. You could see where the pipes were no longer aligned and in some, there was separation.”

Duque said the project allows the city to be proactive.

“These are older sewer lines,” Duque said. “It’s a project where you are just keeping up with the infrastructure and not wanting it to collapse or break.”

Public Works Director Rob Woods said the pipes have served their life expectancy in some areas.

“There were six areas listed as priority areas,” Woods said. “That’s what his project is addressing.”

The area listed as the top priority is Avenue H to 12^th street.

The amount of work needed as well as the location determine which areas are labeled as higher priorities. The former goes under Twin City Highway and the railroad track, so the city wants to get that one out of the way in the summer when traffic is minimal.

The work won’t be as disruptive as the Nederland Avenue project, Woods said, as most of the work will largely be done underground.

“It’s going to be a liner that they insert manhole to manhole,” he said. “There will be some traffic delays. We’re trying to get that window where we can be done in the summer with some of the high-priority areas. Any work that we have near a school, we’re trying to get finished before the school year starts up.”

The city is looking into ways to limit the interruption of services, and contractors hope to be able to use bypass pumping or pumping by a truck.

“We’re trying to not have an adverse effect on the residents,” Woods said. “There are also commercial businesses that we are trying to minimize our impact on.”

Duque said the project should take around 12 months to complete, weather permitting.

The bid process will begin this weekend and the City Council will award a bid during the first council meeting in March. Duque said the project should begin at the start of July.