Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By CHARITY SMITH
Bessemer — The city of Bessemer’s water and sewer project is running behind schedule as a result of “quite a few” storm sewer issues on Galena Street, according to Kelly Heidbrier, an engineer with C2AE.
“Overall, we are running a couple weeks behind from the original schedule,” Heidbrier told the city council during its regular meeting on Monday. “We’re constantly having to repair problems over there and it’s becoming costly.”
He cited a “Bessemer special” structure that they had just come across. The structure was made up of railroad rails with concrete poured in them to support the ceiling and the structure, said Heidbrier. When a contractor dug next to it, the structure caved in, he said.
“It’s an unfortunate development, but these things happen,” said Heidbrier.
He said to make up for lost time, the contractor indicated that they would be working a few Saturdays, but did not specify which Saturdays.
City Manager Charly Loper, said that if the contractor continues to be behind schedule, they do have the option to call in a subcontractor to connect services.
“We need to shift a couple items around with the contractor. ... That’s to make sure we get over to North Mine Street and get that utility work done prior to school starting,” Heidbrier said.
He said that they have one crew that is “wrapping up” work on Galena Street, and starting on Moore Street and heading down the railroad grade to Hematite and South Sophie Street. Another crew will be continuing work on East Longyear Street and then jumping over to North Mine Street, before completing work on South Clayburg in order to allow the work on Mine Street to be completed by Aug. 25.
On the Michigan Department of Transportation side of the project, Darren Pionk, project manager for C2AE, said that the reason the section of U.S. 2 between Peck and Beecher has taken over a month is the result of storm sewer issues.
“The redesign of that is so unique, and that is one part of the problem,” said Pionk. “It is a slow going process through that stretch there.”
Construction on the west end is going to pick up, he said, adding they have a few changes to the plan near Marshlick Road. He said that they will be putting a “country curb” there as the original sewer plan would not work.
“It’s going to be a concrete curb and gutter on top of a hill, which protects the edge and then we can actually fill on top of that so that we can keep some cover on top of the water main,” Pionk said.
He said they had completed 9-10% of the contract as of Monday. He said they have a change order to repair another section of sewer crossing the highway near Ramme’s Salvage, which he said was a conflict with MDOT’s plan.
“They have temporarily widened out the highway on the north side to push traffic over,” said Pionk. “In wintertime, you’re still going to have all four lanes open of the highway. So next spring, they will come in and cut that section out.”
According to Pionk, 34 houses have been identified as having lead and/or galvanized lines within the home that need to be replaced.
According to state law, they are required to replace 18 inches inside the building or to the first shut off, whichever is less. He said nine of those houses have pipes that have a small section of galvanized lines in between copper piping during the first 18 inches of water pipe into the home.
“It’s not something that falls into our pay items. So we are working out a kind of new pay item that will take care of these,” said Pionik. “It’s not going to cost much, but it is still something for the contractor to do.”
Pionk acknowledged that every house is different and said they do have money set aside for those “unique” situations.
“It’s going good,” he said.