Wallace Road re-opened the morning of Tuesday, February 28, as emergency sewer repair work came to an end. However the total cost to the township was over $612,000, and in previous council meetings Business Administrator Robert Hary estimated the total as close to $500,000.
Heavy costs for the repair project included $130,425.51 for Scheidler Excavating. Godwin Pumping will receive $90,799.45 and Mabey Bridge Shore will receive $15,107.60. The total labor cost for the township’s Department of Public Works came to $19,153.37.
Two recommendations pertaining to the Wallace Road repair were approved at council’s February 27 business meeting.
A $308,949 professional services agreement with Closter-based Entech Corp. for labor, material, and equipment was approved. Council also voted to authorize $24,000 payment for Van Cleef Engineering for administration and observation of the sewer lining.
The remaining costs comprised of $6,925 to DRP Construction for the paving repair on Wallace Road, which was completed on February 27; $6,160.38 for Stevenson Supply; $2,400 for nearly 40 hours of police traffic directors; $2,576.64 for Water Works Supply; $3,498 for Oswald; $1,197.30 for Norcia Corp. and $825 to MT Group.
Mayor Hsueh says that with large-scale engineering projects, if the total cost varies by anywhere up to 20 percent that would be a good thing. At the February 27 council meeting, Councilman Bryan Maher asked Hary whether or not the township received competing bids for the work. Hary’s response was that in an emergency situation there is no time to go through that process.
Mayor Hsueh says that the township will pay close attention to sewer lines in the area as a way of learning from the recent experience. He says the township had first planned to do so when it set aside funds for a comprehensive review of the sewer underneath Wallace Road in 2007, when another incident occurred and fallen debris “messed up the pumping station.” That review project was actually scheduled for this year.
Hsueh believes the problems on Wallace Road have something to do with the geological structure of that part of the township and the wetlands that development was built over years ago. Because the New South parking lot will be in the same vicinity, drainage and storm water controls will be included in its design to avoid the same issue. The mayor also says West Windsor is a step ahead of other municipalities in the area when it comes to structural conditions and storm water management, as with developers such as Toll Brothers there were requirements built into the individual projects.
One West Windsor resident who was affected by the construction work was Mark Lewis of 3 Colonial Avenue. Lewis, who is handicapped, spoke at the council meeting, saying that while work was going on he could not make his way to the train station as there were pipes and hoses run across the curb cuts.
Lewis placed a call to the office of Pat Ward, director of community development, and he received a call back from Township Engineer Francis Guzik. Guzik immediately had the problem resolved by seeing that a temporary ramp was installed and hoses would not block the curb. Lewis publicly thanked Guzik and the township’s engineering staff for accommodating his request.
