Brawley officials say Main Street waterline work is complete; paving, striping to follow

Brawley city staff told the City Council on March 4 that the Main Street waterline replacement portion of a multi-phase rehabilitation project is complete and crews began paving this week, with final striping and utility adjustments scheduled to follow.

The update came during the city manager’s project status report, delivered by public works director Bob Medina and consultant Judy Marmolejo. Marmolejo said the pipeline portion—installed in ten phases and finished Feb. 11—was fully complete and traffic controls were lifted Feb. 13. Milling and placement of a leveling course were finished the prior week, she added, and crews began installing a geogrid before asphalt placement on the north side of Main Street the evening after the meeting and on the south side the next day.

The work continues to include raising water valves and manholes, resetting survey monuments at several intersections (including Ninth Street, Cesar Chavez, Palm and Eastern Avenue), installing traffic detection loops for signals, and temporary pavement markings until final striping in about two weeks. Marmolejo said temporary tabs will remain while the new asphalt cures and that traffic lights are expected to stop flashing red once loops are activated.

City staff reported the project is on track for a March 31 completion date, saying they expect to finish earlier if there are no additional delays. Marmolejo gave a project spending update: about $7,300,300 spent so far against an $8.9 million contract, with roughly $600,000 expected to be spent on the paving work in the next few days.

Council members asked staff about curb painting, bicycle lanes and placement of signs to restrict parking where bike lanes are planned; Marmolejo said selected red curbs will be painted and signs added to prevent parallel parking in the lane areas. She also told the council crews encountered an active Kinder Morgan petroleum line during construction and had to meet the company’s requirements, which contributed to additional time-and-material work items that will be addressed in forthcoming change-order negotiations.

Staff said two water outages occurred earlier in February and that residents were notified in advance; there were no reported issues tied to those outages. If change orders are required, Marmolejo said staff will return to council in April to present them and to aim for final project closeout.

The report noted the paving scope covered Main Street from roughly Ninth Street to just east of Eastern Avenue and that the portion previously completed (First to Ninth streets) was treated as a related but separate project. Road closures for paving will affect north- and southbound turns at several cross streets for about two days while crews pave intersections.

Councilmembers sought clarifications about survey monuments (markers that delineate right-of-way centerlines) and why the city had to replace them after milling removed shallow iron pipes and tags. Marmolejo described typical monument forms (iron pipe, wooden stakes or tags) and said crews will reset those monuments as part of the finish work.

Staff emphasized remaining work is largely finishing details—signal loops, final striping and utility adjustments—and that negotiations on small contractor change orders are progressing ahead of final closeout.