Delays, extra work hit sewer project

Last updated 1/30/2001 at Noon

The Sisters sewer project has progressed smoothly through a mild winter, but there have been a couple of delays and some extra work required in the past month.

An extra main line section was required to service businesses from Space Age Gas west to Les Schwab, according to engineer Dick Nored of HGE, Inc.

Nored said he had thought those businesses would tie into a line laid by PMR Dev Co., but that line along the Hood Avenue extension proved unsuitable. PMR has a pressure system; the city system is a gravity-feed system.

"It kind of fell through the cracks," Nored said. "I thought the PMR system would pick them up."

The new main will run up Hood Avenue from Space Age Gas and, if an easement is secured, cut across the Les Schwab property to the McKenzie Highway, according to Nored.

The work will obviously add some expense, but Nored did not have immediate figures.

"I think we'll get it done... within the budget," he said.

The project has experienced some delays. Crews laying main line across the Forest Service property at the west end of town were delayed due to several changes in the layout initiated by the Forest Service, Nored reported.

In addition, the Oregon Department of Transportation stopped work on Highway 20 after citizens protested that work along the fog line adjacent to Ponderosa Best Western Lodge could injure trees in the highway right-of-way.

The line was moved about five feet further out into the roadway.

According to Nored, "we lost a couple of weeks." However, Nored noted, "we were able to move the contractor around and keep them going in other places."

Nored said that Phase II construction, including the laying of some lateral lines is expected to begin early in February. Some commercial operations that have pressing septic problems -- particularly restaurants -- will be hooked up and operational very soon, Nored said.

Some customers could be using the sewer system as early as the end of February.

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Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.