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Farmers Branch City Council

Funds approved for design of water main replacement

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Engineers will soon design the utility improvements along Webb Chapel Road.

The Farmers Branch City Council approved a $912,700 contract with Birkhoff, Hendricks & Carter LLP, a civil engineering firm that specializes in government and municipal projects. The project will replace all water main lines and sanitary sewer lines under Webb Chapel and is part of the city’s plan to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2021 Lead and Copper Rule Revisions that require public water systems to “better protect communities from exposure to lead in drinking water.”

Director of Public Works Ray Silva-Reyes said at the Oct. 8 city council meeting that the city is going beyond the rule in including the sewer lines in the project.

“This project has been partnered up with the Lead and Copper Revision Rule. It’s not a requirement but is something of our own initiative that we’re doing to upgrade our aging infrastructure,” he said.

The plan is to replace about 13,000 feet of water line and 7,000 feet of clay pipe sewer lines between Belt Line Road at the northern boundary of city limits to Interstate Highway 635 on the southern city boundary. Birkhoff, Hendricks & Carter’s design will include full engineering, including geotechnical, surveying, bidding and construction costs, Silva-Reyes said, but construction may be divided into four phases because the project is so large.

The company’s Opinion of Conceptual Project Budget Cost that was included in the council’s packet is for $10,060,000 and includes 10 percent for contingencies but cannot be bid out until the design portion is complete.

Residents passed a $5.5 million bond proposition for water infrastructure improvements in the May municipal elections. Water infrastructure and the EPA’s lead and copper rule revisions have been a frequent topic for the city council.

City Councilmember Roger Neal asked if the estimate and contingency would be enough for the entire project.

Silva-Reyes admitted that construction bidding is difficult because costs can vary between design and when the project is built.

“We try to take into consideration when we intend to go to market. We have the OPCC, which is the Opinion of Probable Construction Cost, at that time. It includes a little bit of forecasts of what may happen with the fluctuation of prices … that’s the best we can do right now,” he said. “We will try to go as fast as we can. We know this is a project that we want to get knocked out.”

City Councilmember Richard Jackson asked about traffic management and interruption. “So that’s a pretty big stretch of road,” he said. “It’s one of our busiest streets in Farmers Branch.”

The engineer’s conceptual project budget includes traffic management costs for 13 months, though Silva-Reyes did not have a timeline for when the project would begin or how long it would last. He said the project would be broken into segments so all of Webb Chapel isn’t under construction at the same time. A traffic control plan would be created based on the design of the entire project.

“We would try to do a section at a time … however many they can lay and put back at the time, being mindful of the residents and traffic in that area,” he said.

Silva-Reyes said the timeline for the work will be based on the design and there is no start date yet, but surveying will start as soon as possible and the first phase, where the water mains and sewer pipes cross the bridge at Farmers Branch Creek, is urgent so may start before the other phases are ready.