City prepares for street repairs

An agreement to conduct topographic survey services for phase four and five of the sixth-penny projects was passed at the Green River City Council meeting, Oct. 6.

The sixth-penny projects are a series of street improvement projects the city voted on in 2012 to carry out using six-penny tax money from sales taxes.

The first year’s project was street improvement on East Teton. The second project, just finished this year, was street improvements on Wind River, Locust, a block of North 4th East and parts of Apache. Phase three of the projects is planned for next year. Street improvement construction will include Second South.

“That’s the big year for construction, that’s the big one,” city engineer Mark Westenskow said.

Phase four projects will be under construction in 2017 and include Hitching Post, Monroe to Crossbow, East Railroad Avenue and a portion of North 5th East. Phase five projects will be done in 2018 and include portions of Evans Street and Knotty Pine.

While surveying has been done for projects one through three, it has not been done for phases four and five. The City Council passed a motion to authorize the mayor to sign a work order agreement with JFC Engineers Surveyors to conduct topographic surveys for phase four of the projects, amounting to $9,750, and phase five, in the amount of $8,500. These funds, which will be payed to the contracted surveyors, will be reimbursed with six penny funds.

“It’s a pretty small portion of the whole job, but it shows progress. We are moving forward,” Westenskow said. “It’s pretty straight forward. It’s information we need to get good design on the roads.”

Surveying maps out the street with specific, detailed dimensions and elevations of the existing street and its surroundings, including utilities. Surveying the area creates an electronic map the engineers use to base the project design on to avoid conflicts with utilities.

“Surveying helps us know what we’re building to... It helps us see what conditions are there that we have to match,” Westenskow said. “The better information (we) have up front, the better design work we can do and better the construction can be.”

The surveying is scheduled for October, while weather is still permitting.

“It’s easier to survey when there’s no snow on the ground. We’re trying to slip it in here while the weather is still good,” he said.