Project Overview
In 2018, the City of Wabasso experienced an extreme rainstorm that inundated the sanitary sewer system, causing sewer backups through the town. This rainstorm brought the attention of the community to the aging sanitary sewer system. The existing sanitary sewer system throughout much of town consists of original clay pipes that were constructed in the 1910-1920’s, that are now deteriorated, undersized, and failing.
Since then, the City of Wabasso has been working with Bolton & Menk to reconstruct the sanitary sewer system to meet current demands. This project was submitted to both Rural Development and the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority for funding assistance. Through these two funding sources, the city was awarded over $6.8 million dollars in grants and nearly $4.4 million dollars in low-interest loans.
The Sanitary Sewer System Improvements project consists of a major reconstruction or rehabilitation of the sanitary sewer mains and services throughout town. Much of the reconstruction will take place in alleys throughout the heart of Wabasso. The sewer mains will be reconstructed with new PVC pipe and will be increased in size to better meet the demands of the system. Individual sewer services will be reconstructed to the Right of Way (property line).
In rehabilitation areas, sewer services will be reconstructed from the main to the Right of Way as well, but the sewer main will be lined with a synthetic resin-based liner. This process is called Cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) Lining. The rehabilitation, or CIPP, areas will take place on the west end of town and along County Road 6, where the sewer mains are slightly newer and adequately sized.
All sewer reconstruction and rehabilitation work is scheduled to be completed in 2024. All surface patches will be temporarily filled with gravel until 2025, which is when the surface restoration (blacktop and concrete) will be completed.
General Contractor: M.R. Paving & Excavating – New Ulm, MN
Utility Subcontractor: Holtmeier Construction – Mankato, MN
Engineer: Bolton & Menk, Inc. – Sleepy Eye, MN
The Construction Process
In general, the construction for this project will start at the north end of town and gradually work its way south. Dewey Street and Pine Street will be the two streets that experience the most extensive sewer construction, but most of the work will take place in the alleys throughout much of Wabasso. As construction finishes on the main sewer runs, such as Dewey Street or Pine Street, the construction will begin to branch off into the adjacent alleyways. At points further into the construction process, there will be multiple construction crews in town working on these branches of alleyways.
In any given block of streets or alleys, sewer work will take approximately 2-4 weeks. Note that this is a generalized timeframe, and the true duration will vary between each area. Many factors affect the schedule in an area, such as the amount and complexity of work, depth of the sewer main, number of sewer services, other utilities, trees, or structures to work around & protect, and weather and soil conditions.
For most alleys and street segments, construction will progress in 3 phases:
1. Neighborhood Meetings and Preparation for Construction
The first indication of construction in your area will be the presence of fliers posted on the doors of homes and businesses. These fliers will come from M.R. Paving and Excavating, and they will provide you with a notice of the impacted locations, a rough estimate of the start of construction and an invitation to attend a neighborhood meeting at a specified date and location.
At the neighborhood meeting for your area, we will provide you with more detailed information about the scope of work in your area, a tentative schedule, and information about access to your property. This will also be a chance for you to bring up any questions or concerns you have to City staff, Bolton & Menk staff, or the Contractors. Also, during this time, you may see the Contractor begin to place and stockpile materials in preparation for the work in your area.
2. Sewer Construction
In street areas, construction will start with the cutting and partial removal of the street surface and some concrete sidewalks and driveways where sanitary sewer services need to be replaced*. Alley areas will be similar, except that there is generally much less surface that needs to be removed ahead of time.
*Note that not all sidewalks and driveways will be removed and replaced. They will only be replaced as needed to reconstruct your sewer service up to the property line.
Once removals are complete, the construction crew will begin installing the new sanitary sewer main. As the new sanitary sewer mains are installed, sanitary sewer service pipes will be reconstructed to the property line. All service pipes will be reconstructed with new 6” PVC pipe. A clean-out will be installed near the property line. This construction of the new sanitary sewer mains and services makes up the majority of the construction activity.
3. Restoration
After sewer construction is complete, a second crew will come in to begin restoring the street and alley surfaces to gravel and topsoil. A separate subcontractor will come to seed the grass areas.
Any paving or concrete work will be purposefully delayed until 2025. This schedule allows the ground settle over the winter before constructing the new pavement or concrete.
Road Closures and Navigating Wabasso
As mentioned, Dewey Street and Pine Street will experience heavier construction activities. In a given block of one of these streets, the full street will be closed during construction. For the alleys, the full alleyway will be closed during construction as well. As the Contractor works their way down the alley segments, they will need to cross through the streets. These streets will be fully closed as work crosses through.
So how you do get around? If one intersection or alley crossing is closed, both street intersections should be open on either side of the work. This means that generally you should still be able to travel to your destination using the next block over. Please note that this is the general procedure, and specific instances may arise that cause additional closures.
As we finish up with work in an intersection or alley crossing, the Contractor will replace the street or alley surface with gravel and reopen the road as they approach the next intersection or alley crossing.
It is our goal to maintain reasonable access to your property whenever possible. Construction of this nature is an inconvenience. If you have special access needs, please contact one of us and we will work with you to minimize access issues as much as possible.
Project Location
