More than two years ago, the City of Bridgeport – and in particular the former Sanitary Board – began looking at a sanitary sewer project along Johnson Avenue near the youth baseball fields all the way up to Hall Street along a heavily used walking trail. Two years later, the project is going to finally take place

 

According to City Engineer Tom Brown, with the necessary government approvals in hand, the city has begun to advertise for the project. The project will not only replace the sewer line in the area, but will also replace and repair the heavily utilized sidewalk and stabilize the hillside above the sidewalk that has been showing signs of slipping for several years

 

“This is a project we would have liked to have already have completed, but we needed to the get the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to look at and approve a plan because they determine that area to have an intermittent stream there,” said Brown. “We’ve been working for quite a while to come up with a plan they would find acceptable.”

 

Although the plan was found acceptable months ago, Brown and others on the Sanitary Board, which has since become the Bridgeport Utility Board, believed it would be best not to undertake the project during school months.

 

“Our actual approval came in late summer and we could have started then,” said Brown. “In that area, considering the traffic during school time, it was determined not to be feasible.”

 

Although the project isn’t going to start immediately as school is still in session, the city has advertised for bids from contractors to do the project. The Thrasher Group has drawn up the plans that contractors have the opportunity to bid on. Bids will be accepted until April 7 at 2 p.m. Immediately after that, the bids will be open and read aloud. A pre-bid conference was held Thursday on the project.

 

Brown estimates the project could range in price from the low- to mid-six figures. He added that he hopes the project to start late May as school is winding down and the contractor can begin the preliminary stage with little impact for those in the school system.

 

“The sewer work will essentially go from the (youth) baseball field, go across Johnson Avenue and into the swale (ravine) area all the way up to Hall Street,” said Brown. “While we’re doing that, we’ll be able to address the sidewalk that is clearly sloping to take care of future concerns.”

 

The project shouldn’t impact traffic along Johnson Avenue, Brown said. Although he said there could be minimal interruptions, he said the work involving the line going across that roadway will be handled by boring under the roadway.

 

Once the project begins, the contractor hired to do the work will have 90 days to complete the work barring problems that are unforeseen. Following that, the contractor would have to pay liquidated damages of $500 per day. Funds for the project will come from accounts under the jurisdiction of the Bridgeport Utility Board.