Even as one sewer and water line replacement project is completed another is on the horizon for a Woodland residential area.

Once approved, the latest multi-million dollar project will upgrade utility lines on College Street between Lincoln Avenue and Pendegast Street and Cross Street between West and Third streets as well as some nearby side streets.

The work is needed in advance of major street repaving set for 2026 on College and Cross streets.

Just completed was a 2024 water and sewer repair and replacement project, according to Associate Engineer Mark Miller, who told the council in a report the work was done by Lund Construction Co.

The nearly $2.6 million project was part of a multi-year program where engineering staff identified locations in the city’s water distribution and sewer collection systems that have the greatest occurrence of defects, breaks and leaks.

The 2024 project was focused in the vicinity of Third Street, Fourth Street and Homewood Drive between Gibson Road and Marshall Avenue. It was done in advance of a planned 2025 road repaving so that any necessary underground utility improvements were complete, according to Miller.

“Approximately 4,600 linear feet of mainline water pipe were replaced by the project, thereby eliminating a portion of the antiquated system of two-inch diameter cast iron water mains which are buried in resident’s front yards near the city sidewalks,” Miller stated. “These two-inch mains are notorious for problems such as breaks and leaks as they are located shallow enough to be subject to diurnal fluctuations in temperature and can be disturbed by homeowner’s improvements.”

The 2024 project built a new eight-inch diameter main in the street and connected 93 adjacent residences with new polyethylene services that will deliver more reliable water pressure for the next century.

“Concurrent with this water work, the project repaired four deficient sewer manhole structures, repaired or replaced more than 40 defective sewer laterals in the public right of way, abandoned 500 feet of inaccessible sewer main and repaired sewer flowline sags and fractures in the project vicinity,” Miller noted.

Miller stated that the 2025 work will cost $7 million, which includes design, construction, construction contingency, inspection, and construction management costs.

Award of the construction contract will be presented to council for approval at a future date, at which time any necessary additional funding will be recommended if necessary.

For the 2025 project, the goal is replace two- and three-inch cast iron water mains located behind sidewalks.

As with the 2024 project, these small-diameter water mains have been experiencing an increasing number of breaks in recent years due to their location, depth, pipe material and aging condition, Miller stated.

“The existing water infrastructure in this area ranges between 76- and 125 years old,” his report noted. “Just under one mile of Woodland’s deficient back-of-walk water distribution network will be eliminated with the 2025 Project.”

An earlier project in 2004 replaced a portion of the cast iron water main originally installed on Cross Street between Elm and First streets in 1928 with new ductile iron pipe.

Since ductile iron pipes have an expected service life of more than 100 years, the 2025 work will not replace this 21-year-old water main.

The existing sewer pipes within the 2025 project area are between 76- and 125 years old.

The project will build 3,600 feet of new eight-inch diameter sewer main from Pendegast Street to McKinley Avenue and connect to the trunk interceptor installed in three previous sewer and water replacements.

Additionally, 82 sewer laterals within the project limits will be replaced with improved burial depths and slopes. City residents in the area will also be notified and given the opportunity to lower their private sewer laterals in tandem with the project’s efforts to reduce the frequency of private blockages and overflows.

In conjunction with the sewer replacement, approximately 6,370 feet of mainline water pipe will be installed in the vicinity of Cross Street between West and Third and College streets between Pendegast and Lincoln.