EVANSTON — The sewer expansion project at the Uinta County Fairgrounds on Bear River Drive is set to break ground on Aug. 7. 

After years of discussion and delay, city representatives are excited to move forward with the project.

“We started talking about this project back when Joy Bell was mayor,” said public works director Oop Hansen. “Now we’re able to get it done. It should go pretty quick.”

Hansen said this is a good time of year to start the project, which is slated for substantial completion on Sept. 29 and full completion by the end of October.

“Right now, the ground is good and the water is low,” he said. “This is a good time to start.”

During a special council session held June 27, city council members awarded the sewer project bid to Longhorn Construction. The city received two bids for the project, both from Wyoming, with the low bid coming in from Longhorn.

“The bid was nearly $300,000 lower than the other company,” said city engineer Dean Barker. “Since the bid was so good, we are able to do all the sections we wanted to get done.”

The project will begin at the northwest corner of the fairgrounds by State Highway 89 North. In the initial plans, the new sewer line would run on the north side of the fairgrounds, along the fence line from Highway 89 North to the east side of Hamblin Park, then south, crossing Bear River Drive and connecting to existing sewer lines.

Barker said they are now able to run new lateral sewer lines, one at the north-south line of the fairgrounds and Hamblin Park and the other at the west end of the fairgrounds.

According to Barker, the Sewer Expansion Project will allow for business growth and development along Evanston’s eastern commercial district, including the fairgrounds area, Bear River Drive and county-owned land. 

Currently, the piping near the Highway 89 and Bear River Drive junction is bottlenecking the sewage flow, thus hindering future business development along the community’s east end. 

“We’ll replace old 8-inch sewer piping and reroute piping which currently runs underneath the fairgrounds arena,” said Barker. “Plus, that land is flat and right now has poor flow. We’ll be addressing that issue.”

The project will encompass approximately 2,700 linear feet of sewer piping, crossing from Highway 89 to midway down Bear River Drive.

Longhorn Construction and Cook-Sanders and Associates, which were awarded the bid for design and construction management services early this year, looked at the construction site and suggested the city consider changing the location of the sewer lines in the park.

Initially, lines running along the northern fence line would disrupt many large mature trees. After much consideration, the city directed Cook-Sanders to relocate the line inward to save the trees. Because of the design changes made by the City, Cook-Sanders had to redesign the new line that places the line within Hamblin Park.

“There will be nine manholes set with the new lines,” said Barker. “Three will be located in the park.”

Hansen said the manholes won’t really be noticeable, since they will be placed at ground level and new sod installed.

Barker said they recently met with Longhorn Construction to view their construction calendar.

“They have our activities calendar,” he said. “They’ll be working around events.”

Barker and Hansen said activities shouldn’t be disrupted since they will be working on approximately 10- to 15-foot sections at a time.

“Once they complete a section, they’ll backfill it,” said Barker. “Longhorn is starting on Aug. 8, after the county fair.”

Lym said the city determined which areas needed relocation and expansion.

“A sewer capacity study, prepared for the Uinta County Commissioners in 2010, identified 11 sections of the fairgrounds area sewer line (manhole to manhole) where anticipated sewage flow from future development to the east exceeds the maximum pipe capacity,” she said. “Nine of the sections identified as limiting the flow capacity will be replaced by installing the new 10-inch sewer line.”

She said the project will include trench excavation, pipe installation, compacted backfill, concrete and sod removal and surface restoration. Four soil test pits and groundwater depth measurements will also be required to complete this project.

“We don’t know what’s going to be along Bear River Drive in 50 years,” said Barker. “This project will allow us to service current businesses better and allow new and existing companies to expand.” 

While the city received a great bid on the project from Longhorn Construction, it is still a large capital project for the city.

Lym said funding from the project comes from County-Wide Consensus (CWC) monies, administered biannually by the State Loan and Investment Board.

“CWC funds can be used for a variety of capital projects, which are determined by each county (commissioners) and its municipalities (mayors),” she said. “Funds for this project came from the CWC biennium for 2015-16.”