During the Fallon City Council’s meeting on Tuesday, April 18, a change order request for West A Street was presented to install approximately 1,420 linear feet of 8-inch water main in portions of the street.
City Director of Public Works Brian Byrd described the original road contract, and the additional work recently identified. “On October 7, 2022, the city council voted to approve the construction contract with A&K Earthmovers that would allow for the reconstruction of portions of West A Street, Taylor Street, North Whitaker Lane, and the entirety of Rancho Drive. During the course of construction, it was identified that the subsurface condition of an 8-inch water main that serves West A Street was originally installed at a substandard depth.” He said the original 1960s-era cast iron steel pipe running parallel to the street was installed only 12 inches at its shallowest point from the top of the pavement. “The existing depth does not allow for proper compaction of the subgrade during the reconstruction phase, and if not repaired appropriately, would ultimately lead to expedited pavement failure.”
Councilwoman Karla Kent asked specifically which section of West A would have its line replaced. Byrd replied, “The 1,420 feet starts at Venturacci and goes about halfway between Taylor and Russell Street. It’s cast iron the entire way, but it reaches an appropriate depth and runs downhill, so once it reaches that depth it’s appropriate for us to properly reconstruct the roadway.”
Councilman Paul Harmon asked if the city knew whether they would run into this situation in any other part of the project to which Byrd said, “No, we identified the depth of all the other water lines once we realized we had this condition. We evaluated those and they are at an appropriate depth. It’s difficult because the iron pipe water mains have a very long lifespan. We get into these road reconstructions, and we want to do as much pavement improvement as we can throughout the city to maximize the useful life of the water mains.”
When Mayor Ken Tedford asked if they had a count of the number of homes affected, Byrd said he was unsure and turned to Lumos and Associates Project Manager Brian Harer. “There’s quite a few. It feeds through the alleys to the north and to the south. So, it will be all of those residents directly north and south of A Street that will be impacted when we tie over the new water main,” stated Harer. Byrd estimated that the new paving work would still begin June 1 in line with the original paving schedule. Kent then asked how long those residents would be without water, to which Byrd replied, “We’ll install the new line in parallel to the old one so interruption to their service will be very limited. We weren’t going to be able to reconstruct A Street if we didn’t replace this water line. So, it’s unfortunate that we’re here asking the council to approve a change order. The one thing I am confident about is that A&K’s number is competitive if we compare it to other projects we have going. The unit costs are comparable.” Councilwoman Kelly Frost commented, “I just want to be sure that the residents will be notified appropriately so they are aware and can plan for it.” Byrd assured her that more notice than they would normally give would be provided. Frost also said she felt the change order was appropriate “in the sense that we do it correctly this time around so that we don’t run into problems down the road.”
The cost of the additional work the council unanimously approved is $416,880 and will extend the construction timeline by 25 days.
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