By COREY NOLES
Statesman Staff Writer
A project to bring better water pressure to a Dexter subdivision is nearing completion.
The Plaza Heights subdivision, located north of Hwy. 60 off of Hwy. AF, has had low water pressure and lines too small to provide adequate water since coming into the city.
While the water was city provided, its strength did not provide adequate fire protection. At the project's completion, new fire hydrants will also be installed in the area to help improve fire protection services.
In early 2012, the city put the project out for bids and the low bid was approximately $400,000. The engineering estimate, however, was around $275,000.
Given the huge parity between the two figures, the board elected to consider some changes to how the project would move forward.
After some subtle changes, the project was re-bid on July 2. This time the low bidder came in at $327,000.
On Aug. 1 construction began, but it was not going to be easy.
When the subdivision was originally built, all utilities came in from the rear of the homes. While there is no alley, there is a city right of way.
Due to the strong concentration of utilities, running 8" water lines throughout was going to be difficult without major disruptions of natural gas, electricity, cable and telephone service.
As a result, the new supply lines are being run through the front.
This also created its own headache. While these items make the project more difficult and costly, the engineers on the project believed it to be necessary.
Because of the way utilities were originally ran to the homes, the water inlet is on the rear of each home in the subdivision.
In turn, workers have had to bore underground around homes in order to get lines to the homes themselves.
At this point, the water lines are up and functional, but are not providing water to homes yet.
Currently, they are in the process of being pressurized, tested and flushed with bleach. With that complete, samples have been sent to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to ensure the water coming through the lines is fit for human consumption.
When Plaza Heights first came into the city limits, they were in need of sewer service.
Given the circumstances, home owners were required to pay for the service. The approximate cost to each home owner was $8,400.
With the 10 year mark just around the corner, most of that project will be completely paid for.
Over the future, other projects are in the works for the Plaza Heights subdivision.
When the area was developed, the roads were paved with cold mix asphalt. The city is hoping to re-pave that area in the near future.
There is also a desire to bring street lights to the area - another project that is more complicated than it might be in other areas.
Because all of the neighborhood's utility lines are underground, they are not able to add street lights to wooden poles.
The lights will have to be concrete posts with power run up through the center to make the lights work.
The lights are estimated to cost approximately $8,000 each and will likely be installed at a rate of two per year.
The street lighting project won't be a fast one, but will be a definite long-term improvement for the area in general.