200-DAY JOB STARTS APRIL 15

Water Project Swaps

Short-Term Pain For

More Pressure, Quality

By JENNIFER HILL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA – It will take 200 days and three separate stages to replace the Main Street water line from the Post Office to East End Avenue, beginning April 15.

On the other hand, “It will be all new water piping and increase water flow and capabilities,” Common Council member Michele Frazier, First Ward, told a public meeting last evening at Valleyview Elementary.

City Manager George Korthauer and City Engineer Greg Mattice joined Frazier in briefing the gathering.

“They will rip up…Main Street from Hunt to Fifth Street, put in the waterline, and re-top it,” Frazier told the 50 people attending the public meeting.   She said the current six-inch pipe will expand to a twelve-inch pipe and back down to an eight-inch one by East End Avenue.

“It will be all new water piping and increase water flow and capabilities,” Frazier said.

The first stage of work, which will start April 15, will be from Hunt to Fifth Streets along Main, the second stage from Fifth to Eighth Streets, and the third stage from Eighth St. to East End Avenue. The project end day is November.

Korthauer said new water valves will replace the old ones and be re-positioned to make future upgrade work easier and less disruptive.

The work will also result in sidewalks that will meet American Disability Act requirements, such as having flat surfaces at the curbs for wheelchair accessibility, red coloring for the visually-impaired and bumps to prevent stumbling, Frazier explained.

Frazier and Mattice said the work would result in one-lane traffic and temporary water shut-downs, with water shut off for four hours “at most.”  Mattice said the contractor was required to notify those affected by water shut-downs 48 hours ahead of the work being done.  The Common Council will vote on who the contractor will be in its meeting next Tuesday, April 2, 7pm.

Frazier urged everyone in attendance to sign up to receive emails, texts, and voice messages on updates and alerts of the work being done from Nixle, an online open communication forum to enable two-way communication between Oneonta and residents and business owners.

“We wanted to have this meeting to get ahead of some of the potential pitfalls,” Frazier said.  “If something isn’t right, if your water has been shut off and isn’t being turned back on, call us immediately, so we can fix it.  We need to have two-way communication.”