By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Town of Berlin is working towards improving the roadway and utilities on West Street. This project would include readjusting pump stations, addressing stormwater challenges and enhancing public safety with the implementation of a sidewalk.

At the Berlin Mayor and Council meeting on Monday night, Nick Bradley, an engineer with the firm Davis, Bowen & Friedel, provided the public and governing body with an update on improvements to West Street. According to Bradley, the initiative was kick-started initially to assess the feasibility of a bike lane on West Street. The engineer said that during the preliminary planning period, “it became very obvious that the existing utilities and infrastructure would have to be repaired and replaced as part of this project.”

Mayor Zack Tyndall said that a bike lane was expressed as a desire by residents who had concerns about pedestrian safety on the roadway. However, per this week’s project presentation, the possibility of that amenity on West Street has been vastly diminished.

“We discussed, ‘Is there an ability to add some sort of area where people can still walk and bike, in addition to having car traffic?’ But it turns out there isn’t, without really addressing the overall street itself,” Tyndall said.

The scope of the original work would have included modifying the existing roadway to fit a bike lane, designing and installing a sidewalk along West Street, relocating the existing West Street pump station out of the roadway, replacing aging and sewer utilities within the roadway, extending the water main to provide service along Buckingham Lane and reducing localized flooding experienced along West Street. The revised project will now be broken up into phases and will focus on utility improvements and a sidewalk, rather than the initial bike lane goal.

Bradley’s presentation noted that the new phased approach was determined to be necessary “due to the significant increases in the construction cost estimates for the original scope, caused by the anticipated needs for resolving the localized flooding issues,” and “due to the rapidly deteriorated state of the existing West Street pump station.”

Phase one of the endeavor will primarily target pump station replacements. On the south side of the intersection of Bottle Branch Road and West Street is the larger of the West Street pump stations, which Bradley said is deteriorating at a quick pace. To maintain the site, town staff have been visiting it every one to two weeks, and due to its location within the roadway, portions of West Street must be shut down during the frequent repairs.

On the north side of West Street are two smaller pump stations. The town owns one, and the other is privately owned. Both sites serve two homes, Bradley said. As part of phase one of the improvement initiative, both pump stations would be removed and consolidated into a single system to support all four houses. The initial stage will also see the replacement of aged water and sewer utilities in the areas being disturbed.

Phase one is currently in design and permitting and is “moving along at a pretty quick pace,” Bradley noted. Construction costs for the first chunk of work are estimated at around $1 million.

Staff agreed finances are currently sufficient for the pump station rearrangement work. Jamey Latchum, the town’s water resources director, noted that earlier this summer, the municipality signed a letter of intent to buy a factory-built Smith and Loveless Everlast Series 3000 pumping station to replace the current equipment at the larger of the West Street pump sites, for $137,708. The decision was made to sign the purchase agreement with the company to avoid future price hikes.

Lathcum added that factoring in the $137,000 already pledged, that leaves approximately $1.35 million budgeted to complete the pump station work.

“Right now, we are budgeted, but as we proceed, I am hoping we stay budgeted,” said Natalie Saleh, Berlin’s finance director.

A bid for the pump station replacement phase is likely to go out in December or January, Lathcum said. The project may begin in March or April, with an expected completion by October or November of 2026.

Once the pump station relocation phase is finalized, the town hopes to move on to phase two. This portion of the West Street endeavor would primarily focus on roadway improvements and fixing the existing flooding issues.

“The reason is if you don’t fix the flooding issues, anything you install there is going to break down over time, and you’re going to decrease the value of whatever you installed if you don’t address the flooding issues first,” Bradley said.

Phase two would require the upsizing of the existing storm drain network system.

“As part of phase two, not only are we upsizing pipes, but we’re also having to install an offline detention facility,” the engineer added. “Essentially, when you upsize pipes, you need to move that water somewhere else to contain it offsite before it goes wherever it ends up going offsite. Really, you’re trying to make sure you don’t flood anyone else’s downstream.”

According to Bradley, an offline detention facility for this project would need to be located downstream of Bottle Branch Road, where West Street interconnects to it, or located near Bottle Street along West Street. This would require purchasing property not currently owned by the town.

Phase two also includes the installation of a sidewalk along West Street.

The second portion of the work is awaiting additional funding and the availability of properties to establish a detention facility. Construction costs for this phase are estimated at around $1.25 million, excluding the cost of upsizing the conveyance system and the acquisition of land.  If the upsized pipes were factored in, the price tag would likely increase to around $2.5 million, according to town officials.

The municipality’s governing group noted that they would like to see the project further broken down, adding a third phase, which would be determining where an offline retention facility could be established.

At the conclusion of Bradley’s presentation, he touched on where a bike lane, the project’s initial dream, could fit in amongst all the improvement work. The analysis revealed that this type of roadway addition may be too complicated, and pedestrian efforts should instead prioritize a sidewalk.

“I love a bike lane, but I think it is going to make West Street really difficult to navigate,” Tyndall said.

Phase one of the West Street improvements, which includes the relocation of the pump station, is underway. The following steps require additional planning and funding before they can be promised.