Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The large-scale Tekoa waterline project is wrapping up after a second summer of construction.
Next year, crews are expected to be back to install 2,000 more feet of water lines in a project which will be covered with funds left over in the budget.
“When you have a good engineering firm, they always throw in more than they think they can get funded for,” explained Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger.
The overall Tekoa waterline project is funded by a $2,736,000 loan and a $1,368,000 grant from the USDA’s Rural Development program.
After 28,000 feet of waterline was installed over the last two years, $926,772 in funding remained as of mid-September.
A few crew members from the contractor, Granite Construction of Cascade, Idaho, are remaining in town. They are raking and re-seeding grass in residential yards and slated to be finished by the end of October, Mayor Jaeger said.
Next spring, Granite crews will return to install additional water lines.
Granite has also submitted a bid for replacing sewer lines in Tekoa. That job has been estimated at $458,000. The contract will be awarded to the successful bidder in February.
Granite could have an edge because they have already been on the scene for the water line project, Jaeger noted. .
Starting in August 2011, crews began replacing six miles of PVC pipe. They started in residential streets.
In addition, a separate road project began on Henkle Street in early July.
This summer, up to eight construction crews were digging, grading and paving. Most of the crews lived in four rented houses in Tekoa.
After the work was finished, up to 75 percent of the town’s streets were torn up.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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