Carlisle staff report low bid of $795,880 for East High Street water-main replacement; award to be recommended at next public meeting

Borough staff presented a water-main replacement plan for East High Street and reported the lowest bid amount for the work.

Staff said the project will replace approximately 450 feet of aging 4-inch cast-iron main—likely installed about 100 years ago and showing a history of breaks—with 6- to 8-inch ductile-iron pipe between the Letor Bridge and York Road. The work overlaps a planned PennDOT resurfacing project, and staff said coordinating schedules with PennDOT offers cost and disruption savings.

Bids were opened on March 20; staff reported the lowest bid as $795,880 and said they plan to recommend contract award at next week’s public meeting. The construction approach described includes installing the new main, relocating service laterals, restoring trench areas and placing temporary pavement before PennDOT completes full curb-to-curb resurfacing. Staff is targeting substantial completion of the borough’s water-main work by July 31, with final paving to follow later in summer or early fall.

Nut graf: Replacing the undersized and century-old 4-inch main addresses repeated breaks, capacity constraints for current development interest and provides a coordination opportunity with PennDOT’s resurfacing work to reduce future pavement cuts.

Staff also said sanitary sewer inspections and storm-water inlet conflicts in the corridor were evaluated and do not require immediate replacement or lining at this time. The council asked no substantive follow-up questions beyond schedule coordination; staff will bring a contract award recommendation to the next public meeting.

Ending: No construction contract was awarded at the workshop; award consideration is scheduled for the next public meeting.