Waterline, Central Ave., projects to begin

By Becky Uehling 

Grant Tribune-Sentinel 

Beginning the week of July 11, some larger capital projects will begin for the City of Grant, according to City Superintendent Edward Dunn, who updated the Grant City Council of the projects during its meeting on Tuesday, June 28. These projects include the water main replacement project on the west side of Grant, the Central Avenue gutter, curb and sidewalk project and concrete work to the street north of the high school from Sherman Ave. to the west end of the bus barn.  

Waterline Project 

With the refinancing of a loan through the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, formally the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, which financed the installation of water meters and new waterline on Sherman Ave. in 2015-2016, the city was able to add another $1.8 million to the existing loan to upgrade the some of the last remaining four-inch waterline in Grant on the west side of town to 10-inch line, Dunn said. Another advantage to refinancing the loan was, because of COVID, the city was offered a zero percent interest rate and partial loan forgiveness. 

“This allowed us to lower our monthly payment and, because of COVID, allowed us over $600,000 in loan forgiveness,” Dunn said.  

The waterline project covers approximately 17 blocks of old 4-inch waterline, and affects the streets of Mitchem, Hall, Warren, 3rd, and 6th Streets. All of the work on the streets with be open trench, Dunn said, with one-lane traffic necessary while the work is taking place. However, homeowners will be notified when the work will be on their individual street so necessary preparations can be made by them for parking, etc. “Hopefully disruptions can be held at a minimum,” he said.  

The contractor for the waterline replacement project is BSB Construction from Curtis, he said. All work is required to be done on the waterline replacement by December 31, Dunn said.  

When it comes to switching the water service from the old line to the new line, Dunn said there should be minimal disruption in service 

“This is new pipe and we are not removing the old pipe,” Dunn said. “There will be some momentarily disruption when we hook up the new line to each meter, but the residents will probably not notice any interruption in water.”  

Central Ave 

Starting sometime between July 18 and 25 at Hatch’s Super Foods, Level LLC from North Platte, in conjunction with Potts Electric with the help of Midwest Electric, both of Grant, will start replacing the gutter, curb and concrete to each commercial building from 1st Street to 5th Street on Central Ave., Dunn said. The overhead electrical lines will also be buried underground, with the old light poles removed, he said. 

Working one block at a time on the east side of Central, the crews will progress north until 5th Street and then cross over to the west side and move back south to 1st Street, Dunn said. 

“If everything goes well, the crews hope to be done before the freeze comes this fall,” he said. “But, they do have until July 31, 2023 to complete the project.” 

Dunn said he understands this project will be challenging to businesses in downtown Grant, but explained that the contractors will work diligently to minimize disruptions to the front door of each business.  

“This will be done in phases. Sections (of concrete) will be poured at a time, so during the time when the section of concrete is being poured at each front door, businesses may have to use the back door or put up some signage that says please use the back door,” Dunn said. “However, we are going to try our hardest to minimize the disruptions to the front door, and to notify the business owners well ahead of time so they can plan.”  

The projected cost for the project is $1.5 million with all of the money coming from the electric cash reserves and being passed through the economic development fund. None of the money is coming from increased taxes, Dunn said. If there is money left over, Dunn said some side-streets may be added to the list for improvements. Including, for example, 3rd Street, where First Insight Eyecare is located, or 2nd Street, where True Value is located.  

With the Central Ave., project will be the removal of the trees on each side of the street, Dunn said. There are no plans to replace the trees. However, the City and the Tree Board are providing wheeled self-watering planters throughout downtown that some sort of flower or other sort of plant could be planted and wheeled out in front of downtown businesses.

Also, to be replaced are all electrical poles and trash receptacles. Benches will also be placed along Central Ave. in various locations, Dunn said.

High School Street 

CSC Construction of Grant has until August 10 to complete the concreting of the street north of Perkins County High School from Sherman Ave., to the west end of bus barn, Dunn said. 

“They (CSC) said if everything goes well, they could be done within two-and-a-half weeks, with a 14-day cure period on top of that before anyone can drive on it (the street),” Dunn said. “We should be up and running by the time school starts. I know the bus drivers will appreciate it.” 

Dunn said the job will cost around $130,000.00 with Perkins County Schools paying 5 percent of the job.

Airport Driveway is on Hold 

Dunn reported to the council that the concrete work to the airport’s entry road is now on hold, with no firm date set for the project. The contractor for the project is Infinity Construction from Scottsbluff. Dunn said once the entry road concrete work is complete, he intends to reschedule the State fly-in that was cancelled earlier in June because of high winds and reschedule the dedication of the airport’s new AWOS system in honor of Leon Kumor during that day.    

Other Capital Outlay Budget Considerations 

Dunn presented several other capital outlay budget considerations to the council during the June 28th meeting for consideration and comment. Some of these included the following: 

• Replacement and repair of the brick columns and metal sign at the cemetery: $9,500 

• Infrastructure with Housing Development Project: $680,000 

• Crack sealing and asphalt patching: $29,999 

• Side Street (Downtown) Curb and Gutter: $30,000 

• New front office computer: $2,500 

• Office chairs for Admin offices (2)/Replace City Council chair (1): $3,000

Other capital outlay projects were presented that will be discussed more indepth in future editions of The Tribune-Sentinel.