When city officials discovered a rather sizable sinkhole forming at Compton Park earlier this year, they knew what the problem was. And they knew it was the result of work staff had did that didn’t take place.

 

However, for those that have been concerned about the hole that is right along the walking trail closest to the roadway at Compton Park, a fix should be coming in the very near future. On Nov. 6, bids were opened for the project to make the repair of the storm drain collapse that has led to the sinkhole.

 

What’s unique about the issue is that the storm drain was earlier repaired throughout Compton Park. The good news is that the city saved tens of thousands of dollars in doing the entire project in house, but the bad news is that at least a small portion will have to be done again.

 

“When we’ve done these projects with our crews, we know going in that there is risk and reward, particularly on a project like this,” said Brown. “For the most part, we’ve been rewarded. This time, a small part of the project failed and we had to contract it out.”

 

For the last several years, the city has hired several of its own work crews to handle water, concrete and storm/sewer projects. The crews don’t have to be paid the prevailing wage, which can drive project costs up significantly. In nearly every situation, the work done by the crews have not had to be corrected. This is one of the rare times, but even with that being the case most of the work done on this project is performing as hoped.

 

“The storm drains at Compton Park were in failure mode. The lines that we were taking out and replacing had the bottoms falling out and we even had sink holes in the past,” said Brown. “All of this would have had to be replaced, but we were able to most of it with our own workers.”

 

Brown said the lower portion of the work done on the storm drains are performing extremely well, while the middle portion is doing okay. He said it’s the upper portion – the deepest area – is where the problems originated from.

 

The problem described by Brown was that the earth underneath the old drain in the area where the sinkhole has formed was saturated significantly due to an ongoing leak before the old drain was removed. Although workers were aware of the problem, Brown said they needed to do more. He said an undercut of a foot was done underneath the old drain, but it probably should have been undercut up to three feet and totally encased in gravel. The 36-inch storm drain will be removed and replaced as part of this particular project. Earlier, Brown estimated that the area needing a fix will run between 120 feet and 130 feet at the park.

 

The bids that were recently opened included a bid from Landscapes, Plus, which was ruled irregular. The low bid, was from Solid Rock Excavating of Albright at $38,400. Bear Contracting was third at $118,800. Brown still needs to get approval for the low bid from the Bridgeport Utility Board during their meeting this Wednesday, Nov. 19 so at this point it is still tentative.

 

If given approval, it's likely work will start soon. Brown previously said he hoped to have the work done prior to the worst of the winter weather with everything back to normal once warm weather arrives and park usage increases.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows P&R Director Joe Shuttleworth near the sinkhole that formed at Compton Park following a city project. The city recently opened bids on the project and hope to have it back to normal before full activity begins next year at the recreational facility. Bottom photo is of City Engineer Tom Brown.