Aurora residents can expect to see some sewer- and water main-related work going on in the city this summer and fall, after the Aurora City Council on Tuesday approved two contracts for work set to total almost $8 million.
One of the contracts — which is being awarded to Performance Construction & Engineering, LLC, for a little over $4.6 million — is for sewer separation, sanitary sewer extension and water main work in the city’s 4th Ward.
This work is essentially the second phase of a sewer separation project on Broadway done last year, Aurora Assistant Director of Public Works Kurt Muth explained at a City Council Infrastructure and Technology Committee meeting earlier this month.
According to Muth, the work includes drainage improvements on the corridor east of Broadway from North Avenue down to Hazel Avenue.
It will also include water-related improvements, Muth said.
About 120 lead service lines are set to be replaced as part of the project, and some sanitary sewer work is slated to be done, he said.
And, given that the area is one of the older parts of the city, some of the water mains there are “undersized” by modern standards, and some have a history of breaking, Muth said. So the project will include the replacement of almost 4,000 feet of water main.
Within the area, Titsworth Court is likely going to be a challenge, according to Muth, because it’s “very narrow,” and the city is looking to put new infrastructure in there. That will require working with the homeowners and “good communication to make sure they’re able to get in (and) out of their driveways,” Muth said at the recent meeting.
The city received three bids for the work, with Performance Construction & Engineering the lowest bidder. The company did previous work on Broadway, according to Muth, and has done other projects with the city.
The project will probably be done block-by-block to be as minimally impactful to homeowners as possible, Muth said at the meeting. There are set to be street closures during the day, he said, but the city will aim to have them back open at night and make them accessible to homeowners. Residents will be informed anytime there is a water main shutdown, officials said.
The project is slated to take most of the summer and fall to complete, Muth said.
“It’s a pretty complex project, and there’s a lot of pipe going in,” Aurora Director of Public Works Jason Bauer said at a City Council Committee of the Whole meeting this month. “So it’ll take the rest of the construction season.”
The contract was brought forward for final consideration by the City Council on Tuesday, and was approved as part of that meeting’s consent agenda.
The other contract approved by the council Tuesday entails water main improvements in Aurora’s 6th Ward, on Richard Street, Robert Street and North Russell Avenue.
This is going to be the city’s “big water main-specific project for the year,” according to Muth.
As part of this project, around 100 lead service lines are set to be replaced, Muth said at the recent committee meeting.
The work, coming in at almost $3.2 million, is set to be done by Gerardi Sewer & Water Co., per the city.
The city got six bids for the project, according to Muth, and Gerardi, which has previously been awarded smaller projects with the city, was the lowest bidder for it.
This project is expected to get started slightly later than the other project approved Tuesday, according to Muth. There are not supposed to be major lane closures as a result of the work, per the city, and water shutdowns are to be planned and coordinated with affected residents.
When the contract with Gerardi for the water main work was discussed at last week’s Committee of the Whole meeting, Ald. Mike Saville, 6th Ward, commended the Public Works Department for being “very aggressive, something that we, and the community, want to see.”
“We’re all concerned with the potential lead levels and how that affects everyone’s health,” Saville said, indicating that the streets set to undergo the work are “some of the oldest” in the 6th Ward.
That contract, too, received final approval by the City Council as part of the Tuesday meeting’s consent agenda.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
