Date: Fri 02-Feb-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewers-winter-Mile-Hill-Rd

Full Text:

Sewer Project Will Come Out Of Winter Hibernation Soon

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Although the municipal sewering project has been in winter hiatus recently,

construction work will resume in the coming weeks as winter turns to spring.

Peter Grose, sewering project director for Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, the town's

consulting civil engineers, updated Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA)

members January 25 on the status of the $30.4-million public works project.

As he often does at WPCA meetings, Mr Grose showed members a map of areas

where sewers have been installed and areas where they remain to be built. At

each successive meeting where the map has been presented, incrementally more

work has been completed.

Most recently, Mark IV Construction has been installing piping just beneath

the deck of the bridge that carries Church Hill Road across Interstate-84.

The workmen are now installing both sewer force mains and permanent water

piping beneath the bridge deck, Mr Grose said.

Sewage discharged by residences and businesses in Sandy Hook Center will drain

down to a sewage pumping station on Glen Road from which it will be pumped

through force mains to the sewage treatment plant planned for Commerce Road.

Last year, workmen from Yankeegas installed natural gas lines beneath the deck

of the bridge. The lines provide gas service to Walnut Tree Village, a

condominium complex under construction on Walnut Tree Hill Road.

Following the pipelaying beneath the bridge deck, Mark IV plans to do sewer

installation work in the area of The Boulevard and Budd Drive. Homes along The

Boulevard will be served by conventional gravity-powered sewers. Houses on

Budd Drive will be served by low-pressure sewers. Low-pressure sewers use

grinder pumps to discharge wastewater, as needed, from homes to the sewer

system. Using grinder pumps is less expensive than building a sewage pumping

station.

Sewer lines will be installed on The Boulevard and Budd Drive before area

asphalt plants open for business, Mr Grose said. After the asphalt plants

open, the pace of sewer installation will speed up, he said.

Mr Grose said that no date has yet been set for seeking bids for the four

sewage pumping stations that will be part of the sewer system. Mr Grose said

the engineering firm was ready to go to bid with the pumping station

specifications last year, but problems with acquiring the land for the

stations have delayed the bidding process.

Mr Grose noted that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has

endorsed awarding the construction contract for the sewage treatment plant to

C.H. Nickerson & Company of Torrington. The WPCA recently selected the firm to

build the plant after the contracting company submitted the lowest bid for the

work at about $8.8 million.

Fairfield Hills

To alleviate tractor-trailer truck traffic congestion in the town center while

sewer construction is under way there in the coming months, town officials

have sought state approval to allow through-truck traffic on the Fairfield

Hills campus to link Route 25, I-84, and Route 34.

Through-truck traffic on the campus is banned for reasons includng: very tight

turns in the campus' road network; the presence of a very steep stretch of

road on Mile Hill Road lying between Nunnawauk Road and the athletic fields

near Kent House; and the questionable strength of a bridge/culvert on Mile

Hill Road over the Pootatuck River.

Mr Grose said the town's engineers met with state Department of Transportation

(DOT) staffers recently to discuss the matter.

DOT representatives had a negative response to letting tractor-trailer truck

traffic pass over the campus due to the condition of the bridge/culvert over

the Pootatuck River, according to Mr Grose.

Mr Grose said there will be slower traffic flow through the town center and

vehicle congestion there while sewers are being installed. Major roads to

receive sewers include Mt Pleasant Road, Main Street, South Main Street, Sugar

Street and Church Hill Road.

The DOT may place road signs on I-84 while sewer construction is under way to

alert motorists to the best exits to take from the interstate to minimize

traffic congestion on local roads, Mr Grose said.