KINGWOOD – The Herring Road project is one step closer to fruition. During the Kingwood Water Board meeting Monday, Tim Rice, senior engineer for Potesta Engineering, said A. J. Burk was the low bidder on the project. The company is based out of Horner.
Rice said before a formal announcement can be made, the Abandoned Mine Land Program and West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council must approve the town’s choice.
“For every contractor who bids, a bid tag has to be done,” he said.
A bid tab requires verifying every line item on each contractor’s bid to make sure they are correct.
“We’re waiting to hear back from AML and IJDC,” Rice said. “When we do, we will give a notice of award.”
He said the project is being funded by money from AML and IJDC.
Earlier, board members received paperwork from environmental specialists in Charleston about tree clearing on Herring Road.
Once the project is started, a small bat box might have to be provided. The Indiana bat and the Virginia big-eared bat are federal endangered species found in West Virginia, according to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources.
The Denver Water project was mentioned but was not discussed. Denver Water wants Kingwood Water Works to take it over. Tunnelton did not want to go forward with the project.
Denver serves about 143 customers and has applied for funding to upgrade its system through the IJDC. Without Kingwood or Tunnelton, IJDC will not give Denver the money to upgrade its system.
Denver offered to pay $4,000 toward the $9,000 feasibility study to make this happen. Kingwood and Denver lines are only about 500 feet apart.
The $1.3 million project Denver is working on would include a master meter line to Kingwood’s lines, three fire hydrants, replacing about 50% of the trunk 2- and 4-inch lines with 6-inch lines, and an 88,000-gallon storage tank.
If Denver remains with Tunnelton, it will have to add a new pumping station to the project. This will incur an additional $400,000-$500,000 cost.
TWEET@DominionPostWV
