During the week of Oct. 5, Milcon Concrete Inc. and its subcontractors are scheduled to start work on Urbana’s Powell to Bon Air Sanitary Sewer Project.
This project will extend a new sanitary sewer main southwest from the intersection of Bon Air Drive and Miller Drive, through a city-owned parcel, through uncommitted areas and existing roadways in Oak Dale Cemetery, along the west side of state Route 54 to its intersection with East Powell Avenue and then westward along East Powell Avenue to an existing manhole at the rear entrance to the Champaign County Fairgrounds.
The project is under contract for $835,956. The city secured a grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission in the amount of $658,900. In addition, the city secured a loan (0% interest, 20-year term) from the Ohio Public Works Commission in an amount up to $513,900. The grant will be expended first, and the actual loan amount will be based on the final construction cost.
This project is being constructed to address a bottleneck in the city’s sanitary sewer system at the intersection of Amherst Drive and Bon Air Drive that limits the city’s ability to continue to support additional growth on the city’s east side. This capacity issue requires frequent cleaning and maintenance of the sanitary system on Amherst Drive and adjacent Bon Air Drive in order to mitigate sewer backups. This project will eliminate this bottleneck by sending the sanitary sewer flow from approximately 430 households (approximately 1,075 residents) and 186 acres of existing development, including Parmore Estates and most of the Bon Air Subdivision, into this new sanitary sewer main.
In addition, the project will install a sanitary sewer in an area that is unsewered. Long term, the project is also designed to accommodate the future connection of unsewered areas south of the city such as Short Cut Road.
Traffic will be maintained throughout the project with the exception of a 14-day closure of state Route 54 between East Powell Avenue and East Water Street. To maintain traffic, the contractor will use an automated flagger that will flag traffic through the work zone.
The exact date of this closure will be released at a future date. Prior to the planned closure signs will be posted at both ends of the project to indicate the exact closure date. Furthermore, a detour route will direct traffic around the closure area.
There are two excavation locations planned on state Route 54 that necessitate the planned closure. One is the sewer crossing from Oak Dale Cemetery over to the west side of state Route 54. The other crossing involves the replacement of a stormwater culvert at the intersection of state Route 54 and East Powell Avenue and the installation of a sanitary sewer manhole within the same intersection.
Completion of this project is anticipated by May 28, 2021. Depending on weather conditions, the contractor will continue to work during the winter months with final restoration work completed in the spring.
