Grout job needs $1.4M more, engineer says

The spending would push the cost of work related to the Washington Avenue sinkhole past $10million.

City lawmakers are considering borrowing another $1.4 million to continue work to remove grout that has been plugging the Washington Avenue sewer tunnel since a sinkhole there was repaired.

That would put the cost of sinkhole-related work above $10 million.

City Engineer Ralph Swenson told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday that if the council doesn’t increase the budget for the grout-removal project, the work will have to stop. He said continuing with the current project would be cheaper than abandoning the tunnel and considering other options to provide stormwater and sewer service to the area.

The additional $1.4 million would bring the total cost of the grout work to $2.5 million.

“That will bring us in line with the original maximum cost estimate,” Swenson said. He said previous comments he made to the Freeman about the project being within budget were taken out of context.

In an email Thursday, Swenson said the project still was within the budget originally set by the Common Council but that additional work is needed to free the tunnel of grout. He also said the original cost estimates for the project extended up to $2.4 million.

The Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday ultimately moved forward a resolution authorizing the city to borrow the additional $1.4 million. The resolution will go before the full council next month.

The grout blockage occurred during the repair of the sinkhole that first opened on Washington Avenue in April 2011. During the repair, a new lining was installed in a portion of the existing sewer pipe. Part of that lining was damaged and collapsed during the grouting process that followed, allowing the grout to partially fill the tunnel and block the flow along a section of the city’s sanitary sewer system on Washington Avenue.

The city has been using a rented pump to bypass the blocked section of the system.

Earlier this year, the city notified the insurance company and contractor involved in the repair that it would pursue a claim as a result of the grout problem.

Swenson said that pro-

cess is ongoing and that his department is supporting the city’s corporation counsel, which is pursuing litigation.

Arold Construction Co. of Kingston is performing the grout-removal work and was the sole bidder on the project. The city’s consultant, Clark Patterson Lee, designed the project that Arold bid on and is providing construction administration and observation services during the repair.

Timothy Moot, a principal with Clark Patterson Lee, provided the council committee on Wednesday with an update of the work performed so far. He said grout had been removed from the stormwater portion of the pipe and that some additional problems were discovered. He said the work was delayed at one point by a large towel clogging a piece of the equipment. There also were weather delays, he said.

“We’re making progress,” Moot said. “It’s just slow.”