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WATER FOR THE NEXT 50 YEARS – A crisp, clear Monday in November meant another 1,000 feet of pipe was laid. “A good day,” was Public Works Director Brian Lease’s assessment. The crew is looking to finish by mid-December. – Photo by Ken Stern
When it rains, it pours.
It’s not just a phrase that describes local weather this time of year. It also aptly describes a recent flurry of activity related to key Town of La Conner Public Works projects.
A lot is happening all at once.
Several major items on the Town checklist are being addressed simultaneously between now and Christmas. Topping that list is the water main replacement project on the west side of La Conner-Whitney Road between Young and McLean / Downey Roads.
As of this week, SVR Construction of Anacortes had installed around 5,000 linear feet of new 16-inch pipe along La Conner-Whitney, Town Public Works Director Brian Lease said on Friday.
About 800 feet – representing 10 per cent of the entire project – was laid on Thursday, an unseasonably warm and dry day for November.
Then the rains hit, as they had a week earlier.
A planned work day on Friday was scuttled. Eight days earlier work stopped early due to a nasty wind and rain storm.
“They had to shut down early,” Lease said at the time. “The ditches filled up with water and everything turned to slop.”
The work is still scheduled to be completed by mid-December – weather permitting.
“The unknown is the weather element,” Lease noted. “Everything is weather dependent right now.”
Lease said the 17-day Western Washington construction worker strike earlier this year delayed the start of work on the La Conner-Whitney project, opening the door to fall weather becoming a factor.
On a positive note, Lease said there was competitive bidding among a number of established firms to install the 8,000 feet of new pipe north of town.
The Town Council in July passed a $1.5 million revenue bond for the new water main. It will replace a failed eight-inch line and a 14-inch line servicing La Conner and Shelter Bay that can no longer meet peak water demand and fire-flow requirements.
Work is also progressing on a much-anticipated sidewalk replacement project on State Street, between Third and Sixth Streets, near the La Conner schools campus.
The new sections of sidewalk, covering almost 800 linear feet, will comply with the American Disabilities Act (ADA) and provide students a safer path to school. “That’s the main reason for the project,” Lease said.
The work, made possible by a successful $114,000 Town of La Conner grant application submitted to the state Transportation Improvement Board last year, includes storm drainage upgrades, Lease said.
Crews from Brookside Excavating began work on the drainage phase last week.
Lease said the Town’s contribution to the project is $21,000.
As with the La Conner-Whitney Road project, the State Street sidewalk work is due for completion around Dec. 15.
A third important project has begun just east of the roundabout. H.B. Hansen Construction of Lynden, which has previously done work in La Conner on the waterfront boardwalk and Benton Street stairway, is in the process of extending the yard waste/compost pad at the La Conner Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The project, including significant storm pipe, concrete slab, and gravel access road improvements, is designed to bolster environmental safeguards related to potential run-off from yard waste.
“Right now,” said Lease, “things are definitely busy around here.”
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