ADMINISTRATION- Jean Keely, City Engineer
Title
AUTHORIZE PAYMENT TO ANOKA COUNTY FOR WATER MAIN REPLACEMENT WITH RECONSTRUCTION OF UNIVERSITY AVENUE IN THE AMOUNT OF $149,434.60, IMPROVEMENT PROJECT NO. 10-09
Background
The Anoka County project to reconstruct University Avenue has a large amount of peat removal that needs to be done in the roadway around the 117th Avenue intersection. This peat removal was unplanned and not identified on the original construction plans. The peat layer goes down to approximately 14 feet underground, which is below the City’s water main in this area. In order to remove this peat, the City water main would need to be exposed. Because this water main is 1960’s era cast iron pipe that is very brittle, there is a very good chance leaks could develop as a part of this work. Since the water main is under the road bed, any future leak or break would be an expensive and difficult fix.
As a result, staff is recommending that the remaining cast iron water main from approximately the 116th Avenue alignment to 118th Avenue be removed and replaced with modern ductile iron water main pipe. By doing this replacement now, it will dramatically reduce the chance of future water main breaks under the new roadway.
Forest Lake Contracting, which is the contractor for the road project, has prepared a cost estimate for this work of $149,434.60. Staff has reviewed this estimate and costs are consistent with this type of work.
The funding source for this water main replacement will be the Water Utility Fund and there are sufficient funds to cover these costs.
Recommendation
By motion, authorize payment to Anoka County for water main replacement in University Avenue in the amount of $149,434.60 and authorize a 10% contingency for a total budget of $164,378.00 allowing the Public Services Manager to approve any changes up to the total budget amount.