Neighborhood to see major street work
A street project that includes seven
street segments winding through narrow rights-of-way past small
older homes and new river-front condos is slated for reconstruction
work starting this fall.
The Whitefish City Council on March 21
unanimously approved going ahead with final design work on the
Sixth and Geddes street reconstruction project after discussing
concerns over adequate sidewalks and stormwater drainage. The
project was No. 5 on a street project priority list in 2004.
The project calls for street
reconstruction from Sixth Street and Baker Avenue to Good Avenue
and Second Street and includes upgrades to a sewer lift station and
sewer mains. The $2.9 million estimated cost will be paid using
about 2 1/2 years worth of resort tax revenue, public works
director John Wilson said.
According to a preliminary schedule,
engineering and survey work, utility relocation, acquisition of
easements and construction permits, and reconstruction work on the
Scott Avenue sewer lift station and adjacent sewer mains will take
place this fall.
With final street design work winding
up this fall, street construction from Baker Avenue to Geddes
Avenue will be completed by summer 2012.
Street construction from Fifth Street
(also known as North Street) to Second Street (also known as U.S.
93 West) will take place in summer 2013, unless a shortfall in cash
flow delays the final phase to 2014, Wilson said.
The council approved Option 1, which
was recommended by city staff and calls for sidewalks along the
north side of Sixth Street from Baker Avenue to Scott Avenue. The
additional cost of installing the sidewalks and new retaining walls
over Option 2 is about $60,000 to $80,000.
Engineers at Robert Peccia Associates
were asked to come up with an option without those sidewalks when
project design work began in 2007.
Because of the narrow rights-of-way,
both options provide sidewalks on only one side of the road on most
of the route and no sidewalks at all along Flint Avenue and Fifth
Street.
According to Wilson, an important
natural conveyance for stormwater drainage, capturing water from as
far away as Highway 40, flows under Flint Avenue at Sixth
Street.
A new and larger culvert will be
installed there, and stormwater will be piped along the north side
of Sixth Street about 350 feet to a city right-of-way down to the
Whitefish River. The stormwater will be treated before being
discharged into the river.
The underground sewer lift station near
Scott Avenue will be upgraded so it can handle future growth in the
West Seventh Street and south Karrow Avenue areas, uphill from the
street project.
Using directional drilling, a
forced-main will be run from the lift station 15 feet or more
beneath the river over to a main sewer trunk line on the other side
of the river, Wilson said.
As part of the council action on the
project, a $145,200 addendum to the engineering contract with
Robert Peccia Associates was also unanimously approved.