West Helper residents will be next in line for a summer filled with utility work and torn up roads. On Tuesday night, Helper City Council awarded a contract to Silver Spur Construction from Draper for the improvements.
The area five project will include sewer line replacement on the west side of Helper. Work is expected to begin as soon as possible.
Chad Brown of Frandsen Engineering was on hand to help field questions from the council. He explained there were four bids on the project. Silver Spur entered the low bid of $7,612,000. Next lowest was Von Con Construction at $8 million. Condie Construction’s bid came in at $8,347,000 and Whitaker Construction quoted $8,707,000.
Brown stated that he had met with Silver Spur and was confident they would be able to handle the job. He said they will have five crews working on the project once it is fully underway. The company was planning on starting April 1, but Brown said they asked them to move up their start date to mid-March if possible.
The project will be from Bryner Street heading west and will include Sally Mauro. Because the area will affect the roads around the school, crews plan to begin work in Martin, just above Workman’s Market, then move south. This should help alleviate as much disruption to the school traffic as possible.
The parking lot of the school will also be affected as a main line runs through the middle of that lot. Coordination with the school district will help resolve any related issues.
Castle Gate subdivision will be the final area in this construction phase.
After the approval on area five construction was given, Brown updated the council on the ongoing issues surrounding the area one and three projects. The city remains in negotiations with Terry Larsen Excavating. The work on Oberto Lane, along the frontage road, was supposed to be completed by Jan. 5. The city feels that the project was not “substantially” completed until Jan 25. This would invoke penalties of $3,000 a day, totaling $63,000 owed to the city. Company owner Terry Larsen contends there were factors that resulted in the delays, and he is working with Helper City to settle the issue.
Nielson Construction will begin asphalt paving on March 10.
All work from both Condie Construction and Larsen Excavating for earlier phases is schedule to wrap up by April 12.