GHT sewer pump station replacement to begin soon

Thu, Mar 27, 2008    to del.icio.us

GRAND HAVEN TOWNSHIP — A Muskegon company has been awarded a $716,625 contract to construct a new sewer pump station at 168th Avenue and Hayes Street.

On Monday, the Grand Haven Township Board unanimously approved hiring Jackson Merkey Contractors Inc. to complete the project, which is scheduled to begin sometime in late April or May.

Jackson Merkey submitted the lowest of five bids for the project, Township Manager Bill Cargo said. The bids were opened March 20.

The remaining four bids ranged from over $780,000 to more than $1.3 million. The Township Board budgeted $1,097,500 out of the township's sewer fund for the entire project.

The total project will now cost $924,977 — $172,523 under budget — which includes over $53,000 for construction contingencies, over $49,500 for design engineering, over $43,800 for construction engineering, and over $44,000 for administration and bond issuance costs, Cargo said.

Township officials said the pump station, which collects all the sewage in the township before it enters the wastewater treatment facility in the city, was designed to last 25 years. It is now past that time.

The new pump will include a 10,000-gallon underground sewage holding area and three large variable speed pumps to move the sewage to the wastewater treatment plant, officials said.

Construction is expected to be completed by August — just when another major construction project in that area is expected to begin.

A portion of Hayes Street, from U.S. 31 to 168th Avenue, will be widened to three lanes. That project will also include replacing commercial drives and installing storm drains and concrete curbs. Adding traffic lights at 168th Avenue and 172nd Avenue intersections were a possibility; however, it was not supported by a recent traffic study, Cargo said.

The Hayes Street project, which is expected to be completed by October, is expected to cost under $1 million — with $170,000 coming from the Ottawa County Road Commission and the state.