PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council has authorized a $2.3 million contract with Active Construction Incorporated for the Water Street sewer replacement project.
“I’ll just start by saying that this project has so many moving parts,” said Andre Harper, city project manager, at Monday’s meeting. “It’s very dynamic. When it rained in Port Townsend, it was a good time to take a nap. But now that I know what happens in our sewer system, I stay up thinking about whether or not the sewer system is going to create any problems for us. So, I’m very happy to see that we’ve reached this stage of the project.”
The Water Street sewer main serves most of downtown Port Townsend and some of uptown, Harper said in a later interview.
“The sewer main along Water Street is one of the main arteries that, after collection through the Monroe lift station, feeds back to our wastewater treatment plant via the Gaines Street pump station,” Harper said.
The project is planned to stretch the section of Water Street from the intersection by the ferry terminal to the corner at Gaines Street.
The repair and replacement project will involve two main sub-projects, Harper said. One will extend the Monroe lift force mainline by 1,850 feet, using a method called horizontal directional drilling.
The other will involve retrofitting about 1,830 feet of pre-existing asbestos concrete (AC) pipe by “sliplining” a smaller pipe into the existing pipe.
Both projects will use high-density polyethylene (HDPE), Harper said.
The pipe is in dire need of replacement and repair, Harper said. AC pipe is vulnerable to degradation when a pipe isn’t fully loaded, he said. The pipe on Water Street is generally only partially loaded, which leaves space for off-gassing, he added.
“The gasses in the line wear on the concrete and degrade the pipe over time,” Harper said. “We’re dealing with a pipe that has sections of it that are very suspect right now. Back in 2022 and again in 2024, we had two failures within two years.”
Harper said that, to his knowledge, pipe slated for replacement and repair is original to the 1966 installation of the sewer system.
The $2,360,360 project will be paid for by two sources, Harper said, a Public Works Board Trust Fund Grant, which is a combination grant-loan, and money from the general sewer budget.
The trust grant will pay for about $2.7 million, Harper said.
The project was originally budgeted for a maximum of $2,838,200, but unexpected pipe failures increased the need. The city’s public works department also included an ask for an additional $300,000, which the council passed.
“It just so happened that, with the emergency repairs and slight unexpected increases, we had a deficit,” Harper said.
Construction is expected to start on Jan. 10, with mobilization starting in mid- to late December, Harper said. Timelines were set with a focus on trying to mitigate any disruptions to traffic.
“The coordination for the plan was intended to be during very low traffic, during non-tourist season and inclement weather,” Harper said.
Traffic control is expected to limit traffic to one lane at times during the project, Harper said.
Work is expected to be completed in eight to 10 weeks.
Active Construction Incorporated was one of two companies which completed bids for the project, although there were at one point nine interested companies, Harper said.
Roglins Incorporated, which also bid for the project, was notably over budget, Harper said.
Unexpected failures
On Dec. 22, 2022, a section of pipe close to Gaines Street failed. In August 2024, a separate section failed at the intersection at the ferry terminal.
The pipe repair at the ferry terminal was made easier because the city had previously contracted, per consultant recommendation, to have the stretch of pipe inspected by CCTV camera.
The process ultimately informed the city of an additional 270 feet of AC pipe than was previously accounted for, Harper said. That information helped city staff locate the failure quickly and accurately.
“It was well within feet,” Harper said. “The first dig, we were right on top of it.”
As expected, the failure occurred at a transition point between AC pipe and cast-iron forced main, Harper said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
