Construction Update

Hello once again Everyone,

It is once again time for an overdue update for everyone. Things have been moving very quickly over the last month, and we have finally entered the home stretch for water main construction. By the end of the day today all of the initial 120,000+ feet of water main will be installed except one small area of about 200 feet.

Starting next week one construction crew will be working on installing the last of the water services in sections 3B and 7 (see map below). They should be finished up in around two weeks or less. Once done they will move to restoration, working alongside the second crew.

The second restoration crew returned at the beginning of this week. Concrete work is their first area of focus (driveways, curb and gutter, and sidewalks). They have completed concrete work in section 3B already, and they will continue working in sections 4, 6, and then 7 until they have all of their concrete complete. Their next area of focus will be asphalt work. They will follow a similar order with that work, starting in section 3B then heading to sections 4, 6 and finally finishing in section 7. Once that work is complete they will finish up by addressing everyone's yards.

All together the majority of the restoration is expected to take over one month yet. There will be some smaller loose ends and punch list items that will continue to be addressed after that.

 

The work completed under Contract B1 (sections 9 and 10) has for the most part been done since the end of last summer. The punch list items in those sections are still being addressed. We do expect those remaining loose ends to be wrapped up in the coming weeks.

For those of you who have signed up for water and have not yet received your letters to hookup (this would be parts of section 3B and all of section 7) please continue to hang tight. We still have to install your services and do the testing and flushing, but by the end of the month you should get your letters. 

Everyone involved with this project cannot thank you, the residents, enough for all of your continued patience and tolerance. And those of you that are at your wits' end, don't worry completion is in sight!

Construction Update

Hello again Everyone,

Not too much has changed since my last post.  This is mostly due to the bad weather preventing the construction crews from doing their job.  If the nice weather sticks around (fingers crossed) they should be able to get a lot of work done in the coming weeks though. 

Both water main crews are continuing to progress south on Juniper and Ironwood Streets in the Rolling Meadows subdivision.  Once complete they will just have 21st St and Kapok St to complete in Rolling Meadows, which they will start on immediately. 

NIPSCO has a subcontractor, Infrasource, working on relocating the gas main at Dogwood and 10th St.  They hope to be wrapping their work up in time for the water main crews to jump over there as soon as Rolling Meadows is complete. 

I have attached the map as always, but there haven't been any changes since the last post. 

 

Thank you for checking in and for your support. 

Construction Update

 

Hello again everyone,

 

First, my apologies for the extra-long delay since my last update. 

 

As the observant of you will have noticed, construction is continuing through the winter months, slowly but surely.  For short periods when the weather is particularly bad (a few days here and there) expect that construction crews will take a break.  That being said, they still do plan to continue working whenever possible.  More importantly, this means that they still do plan to complete underground pipe installation before the end of this winter. 

 

As you can see in the updated construction map below, there are only two sections where water main instillation is not yet complete.

 

 

 

 

 

Those residents in Section 7 (Rolling Meadows) can expect somewhere around three or four weeks before water main instillation is complete (subject to weather delays). 

 

Section 3B is about half way complete.  Water main has not yet been installed on 10th St, Dogwood St, and Elm St SW.  We are waiting on a NIPSCO gas main to be relocated along 10th St before completing work in this section.  NIPSCO has been scheduled to finish their work since the beginning of the new year, but they are experiencing weather related delays with their crews.  Our expectation is that by the time water main instillation is finished in Section 7 NIPSCO will complete their work in Section 3B.  

 

In addition to Sections 7 and 3B there are also a few water services that have to be installed in Section 6.  This work is expected to be finished by the end of winter too. 

 

As I had previously mentioned the bulk of the restoration work (topsoil, seeding, asphalt patching, and concrete patching) will have to be postponed until weather allows.  This will be sometime in the spring. 

 

Just as a reminder, the NORWEJ Board meetings have been changed to the fourth Monday of the month, at 6:00 PM, before the Town Board meeting.  They are open to the public, but if you do have a specific topic you would like discussed please contact the Town Hall beforehand to verify it can be added to the meeting agenda. 

 

As always, thank you for your patience and cooperation as construction moves to the final stretch.  Check back soon

Construction Schedule

Hello again Everyone,

Water main construction has been progressing and it is about time for another update.  The two water main crews have finished up along 15th St, all the way from Ironwood SW on the west end to CR 700 W on the east end.  They have also finished up in the Iron Lake Estates subdivision.  Please check out the updated project map below.

Both water main crews will be finishing up the last of the main in Section 4 over this week and into the following week.  If all goes smoothly the first crew expects to be working in Section 3B by next week.  Then the following week the second crew expects to be working there as well.  They will be busy there through the end of the month. 

After that, one of the crews is planning to spend the first week of December in Harvest View (Section 6). 

Once all of the other water main is done both crews will move to Rolling Meadows (Section 7), where they plan to finish out the year. 

The third crew will continue following behind the other two.  They will be installing water services and doing whatever restoration work the weather will allow. 

Many residents have been and continue to hook up to the system.  All sections that have been completed are now active, with the exception of Iron Lake Estates (Section 8).  Flushing and bacteriological testing in that subdivision should take place within the next two weeks. 

As always, everyone involved with this project cannot thank all of the residents enough for your continued patience.  Check back soon for another update. 

Progress Update

Hello once again everyone,

Another busy month of construction is complete. There is not too much new information to report since the last update, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been lots of work getting done.  Crews are still making their way through Section 8 (Iron Lake Estates).  They will be busy there for a couple of weeks still.  Once Section 8 is complete the tentative plan is to have them get the water main along 15^th St finished, then eventually move to the last part of Section 3 (south of the rail road tracks and west of Halleck). 

The number one concern that people have been expressing is the quality of their lawns after the initial restoration.  These concerns are not going unnoticed and we have been working with the Contractor to make sure they are addressed in a timely manner.  The Contractor is being cooperative and is going to go back and readdress the problem areas.  Watering and regular mowing and maintenance of the areas in front of your home will help expedite the growth.  It is expected there will be some weeds that pop up, but they are annual weeds that will eventually die.  Mowing the weeds so that they don’t overtake the grass sprouts will help as well.  Those especially bad areas will be addressed by a professional lawn care subcontractor too.  There is probably a good month and a half of good growing left this year that we plan to take advantage of. 

Many residents have been busy hooking up to the water main in sections that are already complete.  Just as a reminder, when the water is available in your area you will receive a letter from the Town.  Until you have received that letter you should not schedule any work with your contractor of choice.  It would, however, still be a good idea to get in touch with a few contractors and shop around pricing while you are waiting for your letter. 

The map I uploaded last time is still up to date, but I have included it again for you.

Thank you all very much again for your continued patience.  And as always keep checking back for more updates. 

Progress Update

Hello once again everyone,

There has been a fair amount of progress since my last update.  The biggest news is that crews have now completed construction in Section 10.  They still have a small amount of miscellaneous cleanup there, but all water main, water services, and nearly all restoration is done.  They also wrapped up the last of their work in Section 5 on north 8^th Avenue. 

You probably have noticed the crews working on the south side of Town, on either side of State Route 10 in the last week.  The reason they are over there is that where ever the main crosses the State Route they have to install a steel casing around the water main, so they will be getting all of those installed now, while their subcontractor is available.  They should be done with all of them by the middle of next week. 

Their next goal is to wrap up some work that was recently added in Section 9.  They have extensions on Hickory NW, Dogwood NW, and just north of W Division as well.  Once these short runs are each complete they will head back to Section 8, where the crews left off over last winter. 

From there they will most likely wrap up Section 3 then work their way to Section 7.  I have updated the Project Map for your reference below.

 

For those residents who have signed up and are in areas now complete, be sure to check your mail for information from the Town on when water will be available and when you should schedule the work for making your connection.  Those who haven’t yet received a letter feel free to contact a few contractors and get an idea of what to expect, but please do be aware that some of the contractors are seeing high demands and are quite busy. 

I have heard there are some of you who have already made arrangements with a contractor but are finding they are having trouble fitting you into their schedule before the deadline stated in your letter.  If this situation describes you please contact the Town Hall and make them aware of your predicament and they should be able to help you.

As always, thank you all very much for the continued patience and understanding as construction progresses.  And please keep checking back here for more updates.

Progress Update

 

 

Hello again Everyone,

 

There has not been to much to report since my last update.  Contracts A and C, for the Treatment Plant and Elevated Storage Tank, respectively, are both now complete. 

 

The water main contracts are moving along too.  There are the few areas in the north west quadrant that the crews have yet to come back to, those being Hickory St south of 4th, Hickory St north of 6th, and Dogwood north of 6th. 

 

Starting next Monday there will be some road closures as they jack steel casing under the rail road tracks at Birch SW and also across Halleck St at 8th NE and 6th SW.  These closures will last a week or so each, detours will be posted for you to follow in the meantime. 

 

The water main has now all been installed and pressure tested in Section 10.  There will be crews still working there over the next few weeks as the finish up water service instillation and restoration work. 

 

The next sections of main to be completed are scattered around Town.  Once their casings are installed they will work on the remainder of the water main in Sections 4, 5, and 8.  Once those Sections are wrapped up they will continue into Section 3.  As usual, here is the map for your reference. 

 

The water main in the area closest to the Tower (Sections 1 and 3) has passed bacteriological testing as is sterile and ready for users to begin using water.  The next sections to be tested will be the north east portion of Town followed by the two elementary schools.  Residents who are unsure if they are included in these areas should be aware that if you have not received a letter you don't have to worry about anything just yet. 

As always, thank you very much for all of your understanding and patience.