Infrastructure work begins in subdivision

The work to build the infrastructure in the Bull Run subdivision began on Monday.

At a construction meeting on April 24, Brandon Foster, project manager with Site Works Specialists (the firm responsible for putting in the infrastructure) gave a rundown of what to expect in terms of construction.

“One of the big questions is traffic (during construction,” he said. “We are going to do everything in our power to keep Top O Hill Avenue open for at least one lane of traffic.”

Bull Run subdivision is the name for the attainable housing development in Hill City. The infrastructure work will provide water, sewer and streets to the 40 lots that are planned.

In terms of paving, Site Works Specialists plans on paving Quinn Drive, Top O Hill Avenue and Buds Drive. Water and sewer will be done on the new part of Quinn Drive and where the new houses will be built on Top O Hill Avenue.

Water, too, will be tied in and looped at the bottom of Top O Hill Avenue down to Smokey Drive, which, Foster said, will help pressure and water flow.

New sewer will also be built in the areas where the water is being looped.

“We have three services down here we have to tie into the existing main and bring the service all the way across the road,” Foster said. “The days that we do that — and we will coordinate that with my superintendent — we will start digging as early as we can in the morning, get the pipe across the road and get it backfilled. We’ll probably do one a day.”

There will be a period of time when the ditch will be open, he added, and it will “probably be tough to get through.”

Foster said they will work to coordinate the work in the ditches to install the pipes.

When it comes time to pave the roads, Foster said they will be able to maintain one lane of traffic, pave one side, let it cool and then flip flop traffic.

“I am not going to be so bold to guarantee you that one lane of traffic all the time, but we are going to do everything in our power,” Foster said. “We hate being a disruption, but we’ve got a job to do. We are going to do it to the best of our ability. There may be a little bit of delays. It’s going to be open all the time, and when we leave at night everything will be clear for traffic.”

The first part of the project will start on the Quinn Drive extension, which will not be a hindrance to traffic.

However, Foster said “it’s going to get noisy out here.”

“We will get all of that done first, get everything tied together on Quinn Drive, get it curbed and guttered, get it paved, before we move onto Top O Hill,” Foster said. “Once we get into Top O Hill, same sequence. We are going to get all of the utilities in, all of the services in, gravel it, curb and gutter, pave it. When we pave Top O Hill, my goal is to pave Buds Drive at the same time.”

When work is being done on Buds Drive, Foster said they will not “mess” with people’s access to their houses, and residents will still be able to use their driveways.

What the construction crew is going to do, Foster said, is peel the gravel off, get the road down to where it needs to be for asphalt thickness and put in gravel ramps into driveways.

Because of this work, there will be a “little bump” into driveways, he added.

The last thing the crew will do is work on Chute Rooster Drive and Smokey Drive.

“The sewer main is right in the middle of Chute Rooster for about 220 feet from basically from Top O Hill down to Smokey Drive,” Foster said. “Once we start doing that, that will be a little tougher to maintain traffic through that little piece. So then we will change our traffic control up and we will put detour signs up and ask the people who would technically go down that way come around the other side of Chute Rooster.”

In the end, there will be an access to Smokey Drive, and Top O Hill will still be open. The only piece that will be closed will be from Top O Hill to Smokey Drive, but that closure will be “pretty minimal,” Foster said.

Work on the project will go for about 50 hours a week, starting at 7 a.m. and finishing up around 4:30 p.m. Foster said he and his company do not like working on Saturdays, and work on Saturdays would only happen if construction could not be done for a day due to weather.

Quinn Drive is scheduled to be paved mid-June, Buds Drive is scheduled to be paved mid-July and Chute Rooster Drive is scheduled to be paved before the Rally.

“Those are the target dates: middle of June, middle of July and that first or second week in August we should pretty much be wrapping up,” Foster said. “I think my seeding completion walking off the job was Sept. 3. By the first part of August we should be pretty well wrapped up with everything up here.”

Hill City mayor Kathy Skorzewski, who was present at the construction meeting, said the plans and timeframes are all at city hall.

“So if you guys come up with any questions and need to get a hold of someone directly, call up to city hall,” Skorzewski said to the roughly 18 residents assembled at the construction site.