The bids for the water main project came in under budget for the City of Lisbon.
City engineer David Schechinger said the project had an estimated $3.4 million price tag, and the lowest bid came in at roughly $2.69 million. There were a total of seven bids for the project, which Schechinger noted was very competitive.
B.G. Brecke was the lowest bidder for the project.
Schechinger said work may start on the project sometime in the next month.
“There might be some delays for some materials for contractors, but there is a plan that the repairs to all of the water mains impacted in this project will be completed within the next year,” Schechinger said.
The project will stretch from the north portion of town to roughly Business 30 for some projects. There are a couple of water mains on the south side of Business 30 near the cemetery that may get tackled, if there is money to address them, but the areas that will primarily be hit with this project are water mains at Fifth and Second Avenues, as well as areas around School Street.
Council member Mike Williams asked if there would be any way to make sure traffic is diverted away from Lisbon city streets as these repairs to water mains are being conducted.
Schechinger and police chief Doug Shannon said Lisbon’s road is not an emergency road for Hwy. 1 closures, the emergency detour takes motorists and trucks to Hwy. 15.
“Most the traffic that chooses to use the farm to market route when Hwy. 1 is closed through Lisbon are local drivers who know this road exists,” Shannon said.
As well, because the road is a farm to market route, it’s hard to enforce any vehicle that may be over the posted weight limit if they aren’t posted. Shannon said that would also be hard for officers to enforce, as they have no way of measuring weight of trucks.
Well number five’s bids, on the other hand, came slightly over budget.
Engineer estimates had that first phase of the project estimated at $200,000. The lowest bid for the project came in at $224,433 from Cahoy Pump Services. Schechinger recommended approving the bid at the price quoted to move forward with the project.
City administrator Brandon Siggins said this is the first phase of the project for the well, and the overall anticipated cost was roughly $1 million.