West side project to begin

Construction has been under way on Indiana 26 East (Water Street) in Portland for nearly a month. This week, city’s west side residents will see more of the same.
Portland’s west side sewer project, which is centered on Grand Street, was scheduled to begin today.
The $866,905 project includes new sewer lines on Grant Street between Race and Main streets as well as areas of Race, Arch, High, Alexander and Williams streets and is designed to help alleviate flooding issues.
“This project, we feel in conjunction with the check valves and the flap gates will go a long ways to make things much better, especially in heavy wet weather events,” said Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman.
The new flap gates and check valves, which prevent river water from backing up into the city’s sewer system, were installed earlier this year.
The project that begins today includes 4,300 feet of new storm sewer lines and 38 new catch basins in an effort to redirect some of the water flow currently handled by the Gerber lift station North of Park Street between North and Votaw streets. Some of the water will instead go to the lift station northwest of WalMart while some flow south to the Salamonia River.
Grand Street, which will be closed for about a month after work begins, will get new 24-inch storm sewer lines, catch basins and manholes. The sanitary sewer will also be reconstructed, and the street will be repaved.
Areas of Race, Arch and High streets will each see installation of new 18-inch storm sewer lines, and Race Street will be repaved between Park and Williams streets. Alexander and Williams streets will get new 15-inch storm sewer lines between Walnut and Main streets. All of those areas will also get new catch basins, with 10 feet of curbing on each side, as well as new manholes, and Western Avenue will be paved between Walnut and High streets.
Geesaman noted that video camera work showed most of the catch basins in the area were not functioning properly and thus adding to the flooding issues. He expects this project will help ease, but not eliminate, water problems throughout the west side.
“This is only part of the solution,” Geesaman said. “But it will have some benefit and some effect in other areas.”
The work, which Watson Excavating has scheduled to be complete by the end of August, will also satisfy an agreement between the city and Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA).
Portland owed OCRA $870,000 after it passed a grant on to Wisconsin-based manufacturer Geesaman Industries in 2009 contingent on several criteria, including job-creation goals. The company failed to meet those goals, and therefore the grant money had to be repaid.
But because Portland had no repayment agreement with Geesaman Industries and owner Steve Geesaman, responsibility fell back on the city.
It was able to pay back some of the money from the sale of Geesaman Industries assets, and came to an agreement that OCRA would forgive the remaining $737,825 if the amount was invested in a local disaster relief project. The west side project will fulfill that agreement.
Because it owed OCRA nearly quarter of a million dollars, the city has been ineligible for other grant funding such as the Stellar Communities program.