Daleville water main project moves forward

A water main replacement project for four city streets moved forward at the Daleville Water Board meeting July 20.

The board, by majority, voted to pass a resolution awarding the project contract to low bidder Brunson, Nichols Construction of Andalusia. Board member Wess Etheredge abstained from voting.

There were four bids, Joe Harmon, a project engineer with David Hicks and Associates Consulting Engineers, said. Brunson Nichols Construction’s bid of $262,524 was under the city’s $267,900 proposed budget for the project. ‘We’ve done lots of projects with them over the years,” he added, recommending that the Andalusia-based firm be awarded the bid.

The project is part of a Fiscal Year 2020 Community Development Block Grant from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs for water system improvements, Harmon explained. The project is 90 percent funded by the grant and the city’s share of the cost is 10 percent.

With the project, Holman Road, Ennis Street, Wells Avenue and Culpepper Street will have existing two and one half inch cast iron lines replaced with new six inch PVC lines.

“All those roads will have new water lines,” Harmon said. “The existing water lines are in the streets and we’re going to put the new water lines behind the curb so that if we have to fix it, we won’t have to tear up streets to do so.

Harmon said that the price of materials has escalated since the cost estimate was made a year ago. “So I feel fortunate to be under the budget,” he told the water board. Harmon said that it is expected that receiving materials for the project may take up to 10 weeks and said that the project is expected to begin in the first part of September.

The next meeting of the Daleville Water Board is Aug. 17 at 5 p.m. in the council chambers in Daleville City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.