Neighborhood to see major street work

A street project that includes seven

street segments winding through narrow rights-of-way past small

older homes and new river-front condos is slated for reconstruction

work starting this fall.

The Whitefish City Council on March 21

unanimously approved going ahead with final design work on the

Sixth and Geddes street reconstruction project after discussing

concerns over adequate sidewalks and stormwater drainage. The

project was No. 5 on a street project priority list in 2004.

The project calls for street

reconstruction from Sixth Street and Baker Avenue to Good Avenue

and Second Street and includes upgrades to a sewer lift station and

sewer mains. The $2.9 million estimated cost will be paid using

about 2 1/2 years worth of resort tax revenue, public works

director John Wilson said.

According to a preliminary schedule,

engineering and survey work, utility relocation, acquisition of

easements and construction permits, and reconstruction work on the

Scott Avenue sewer lift station and adjacent sewer mains will take

place this fall.

With final street design work winding

up this fall, street construction from Baker Avenue to Geddes

Avenue will be completed by summer 2012.

Street construction from Fifth Street

(also known as North Street) to Second Street (also known as U.S.

93 West) will take place in summer 2013, unless a shortfall in cash

flow delays the final phase to 2014, Wilson said.

The council approved Option 1, which

was recommended by city staff and calls for sidewalks along the

north side of Sixth Street from Baker Avenue to Scott Avenue. The

additional cost of installing the sidewalks and new retaining walls

over Option 2 is about $60,000 to $80,000.

Engineers at Robert Peccia Associates

were asked to come up with an option without those sidewalks when

project design work began in 2007.

Because of the narrow rights-of-way,

both options provide sidewalks on only one side of the road on most

of the route and no sidewalks at all along Flint Avenue and Fifth

Street.

According to Wilson, an important

natural conveyance for stormwater drainage, capturing water from as

far away as Highway 40, flows under Flint Avenue at Sixth

Street.

A new and larger culvert will be

installed there, and stormwater will be piped along the north side

of Sixth Street about 350 feet to a city right-of-way down to the

Whitefish River. The stormwater will be treated before being

discharged into the river.

The underground sewer lift station near

Scott Avenue will be upgraded so it can handle future growth in the

West Seventh Street and south Karrow Avenue areas, uphill from the

street project.

Using directional drilling, a

forced-main will be run from the lift station 15 feet or more

beneath the river over to a main sewer trunk line on the other side

of the river, Wilson said.

As part of the council action on the

project, a $145,200 addendum to the engineering contract with

Robert Peccia Associates was also unanimously approved.