Construction on next phase of stormwater project to begin this month

Crews wrapped up construction on the first phase of the Bigfork Stormwater Project earlier this summer, and if all goes according to plan, work on the second phase of the project will begin Sept. 19.

According to Brett Walcheck of 48 North Civil Engineering Services, Newman Construction has been awarded the building contract for the upcoming phase, which includes improvements on Electric Avenue and River Street.

“It’s a smaller contractor, which is to be anticipated for a project of this size,” Walcheck said. “Smaller firms tend to be more competitive for smaller projects.”

After the construction company finalizes its agreement with Flathead County commissioners at a meeting set for Sept. 12, members of the public will have the opportunity to learn about the specifics of the project and voice their questions and concerns at a pre-construction meeting Sept. 15. Weather permitting, that meeting will be held outside at 1 p.m. in front of the Bigfork Inn.

“I think it’s good for us to be outside so people can actually see what we’re talking about,” said Bigfork Stormwater Advisory Committee chair Sue Hanson.

The committee plans to mail out notices about the meeting to affected property owners.

According to Walcheck, the planning process leading up to the start date of the second phase has been fairly smooth.

“Tentatively, everything is falling into place here,” Walcheck said.

The design for the upcoming phase includes the installation of new catch basins and conveyance lines, which will collect stormwater in the River Street Drainage Basin and send it to the main treatment unit that is already in place on Grand Drive.

The plan also calls for the installation of a hydrodynamic separator at the west end of the River Street alleyway between Electric Avenue Gifts and the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts. That unit will remove suspended solids, oil and floatable litter from water collected at that location before it is released into the bay via the existing outfall.

The 45-day construction contract will expire at the beginning of November.

“The only problem with fall construction is that the asphalt plants shut down mid-November,” Walcheck said. “We want to re-seal everything before next year, so we’ve built in a one to two-week cushion for delays.”

Holt Drive

Following the presentation of the preliminary draft of the Watershed Restoration Program at last month’s BSAC meeting, committee member Bob Keenan assembled a series of photos to illustrate the water drainage problems on Holt Drive.

The WRP — a document required by the Department of Environmental Quality for all projects funded by DEQ grants — is intended to describe a project’s overarching plan and goals. Since the west Bigfork area — including Holt Drive — was originally included in the stormwater project’s 2007 Preliminary Engineering Report, it was also included in the WRP.

Keenan’s report focused on two locations of concern: the area near the intersection of Holt Drive and Chapman Hill Road, and the area near the south entrance to Eagle Bend.

His photos of these locations showed pools of water — which, he said, create dangerous sheets of ice in the winter — and piles of gravel sediment that had been washed across the road due to improper draining.

“The catch basin installed in the area near Chapman Hill (Road) is not enough,” Keenan said. “The problem is, the water doesn’t always reach the catch basin, so it just goes across the road.”

He added that a culvert installed in the area frequently floods, leading to more water build-up on the surface of the road.

“It (the water) doesn’t flow like it’s supposed to,” said Hanson.

Although Hanson and other BSAC members acknowledged that the issues on Holt Drive pose a definite threat to public safety, they did not take any action on the matter.

“The WRP doesn’t necessarily provide solutions, it just says, ‘This is what is happening,’” Hanson said.

BSAC will send the WRP, along with comments from committee members, to DEQ. It will then be cosigned by a DEQ representative and a county commissioners representative.