Part of Botham Avenue in St. Joseph will be reconstructed next year.
At a meeting this week, St. Joseph City Commissioners awarded the engineering contract to Rowe Professional Services Company out of Grand Rapids at a cost of $190,000.
St. Joseph City Manager John Hodgson tells us the work will be on the west side of Niles Avenue. That’s after the other side, near the hospital, was reconstructed a few years ago.
“This is a nearly complete reconstruct of one block of Botham between South State Street and Niles Avenue,” Hodgson said. “I say nearly complete because the sanitary sewer was lined a few years ago so the main sanitary sewer is good. It’ll still be necessary to replace the sanitary sewer laterals that are attached to that, but you’ll be seeing a new storm sewer, new water lines, a new road surface, and a new non-motorized pathway.”
As part of the work, a larger water main will be put in, which city engineer Tim Zebell told commissioners should make fire services more reliable. He also noted some lead water line replacements in the area have already been done.
The city received several bids for the work, something that came as a relief to Zebell after a couple of years of high bids from few contractors.
