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Public works director reviews 2014 street, sewer and landfill work and lists 2015 priorities
Summary
The public works director briefed the Common Council on 2014 capital work including street overlays, sidewalk projects, landfill capping and wastewater upgrades, and outlined 2015 priorities such as Wisconsin Point Road paving, a salt barn design and a Winter Street truck-route conceptual study.
The City of Superior public works director briefed the Common Council on Dec. 15 about the department’s major projects in 2014 and plans for 2015, including street overlays, storm-sewer work, landfill capping and wastewater-plant improvements.
The director said crews milled and constructed blacktop overlays on about 65 blocks of city streets and replaced about 34 blocks of concrete sidewalk in 2014. Major projects included the Fifth Street reconstruction from Belknap to 12th Avenue, the first roundabout in the Twin Ports near the Bong Bridge in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and reconstruction of Second and Third Avenues near East Second and East Fifth streets. The department also completed phase-3 capping at the city landfill and finished a three-phase study of garbage-collection services, the city’s waste shed and landfill valuation.
Environmental services work in 2014 included installation of new screens at the wastewater plant, cleaning roughly 45 miles of sewer, lining a portion of the K Street storm sewer and installing about 88 residential backwater valves for the flood-control program (the director said about 75% of that total was installed in the prior two years). The department worked with an animal-shelter ad hoc committee from May to August to advance plans for a new shelter and demolished multiple vacant buildings, including the Boss Electric building.
Looking to 2015, the director said staff are preparing a one-million-dollar overlay list that may include Grand Avenue, a segment of North Fifth and North Twelfth, and will pursue Wisconsin Point Road paving and an RFP for a conceptual design of Winter Street and a truck route. He said the department will design and construct a salt barn at the city shop and prepare a sidewalk-construction plan; repairs are also planned for concrete on Salvatore where blacktop patching material was removed.
Councilors asked about joint projects with the Wisconsin DOT, and the director explained the DOT typically administers joint projects while the city pays its share for eligible items; some items are 100% city-funded and the city has final say over those elements. Councilors thanked crews for work in Billings Park and elsewhere. The director said the harsh winter of early 2014 strained the salt budget through June, but November and December had been favorable for salt and sand expenditures.
None of the items the director discussed required immediate council action at the Dec. 15 meeting; several projects will proceed through standard design, bidding and grant-application processes or return to council with specific contract requests.
