Brackenridge searches for money to fix collapsed sewer line

Brackenridge officials are considering borrowing money to help pay for emergency repairs to a collapsed storm sewer on Roup Avenue.

Council on Thursday accepted the $106,400 bid of Glenn Johnson Inc. to do the repair work. Johnson’s bid was the lowest of three received in what was the second round of bidding by the borough after council rejected the first bids because it thought they were too high.

Even with the lower bid, the borough is still short on money.

“We have about $50,000 that we can allocate to this project right now, so we are about $56,000 in the hole,” Councilman John Stanzione said.

“I think we should accept this bid at least until we get favorable financing so we don’t lose the bid,” he said.

Council, with Dino Lopreiato and Tim Kolar absent, agreed to accept Johnson’s bid and begin searching for the needed financing, starting with local banks.

Given the cost, it might seem that the line in need of repair is lengthy but that is not the case, according to Stanzione.

He said the line in question is in the 1000 block of Roup and runs down hill, perpendicular to Brackenridge Avenue. He estimated the section of collapsed line is only 10 to 20 feet long.

“But, it’s 25 to 35 feet deep, which means you have to put in shoring to do the repair and it’s between two houses,” Stanzione said.

He said borough officials discovered the problem about five or six weeks ago during one of the recent heavy downpours that saturated the region.

Stanzione said the volume of rain in such a short period led to a heavy flow of water into the storm sewer system. He said as that runoff rushed through the storm water line, it hit the collapsed section on Roup and it was blocked, causing a backup into catch basins that also blew off some manhole covers.

“If it hadn’t been for the storm, we wouldn’t have noticed it,” Stanzione said.