City contract awarded for utility project

HOT SPRINGS — The Hot Springs Board of Directors awarded a $276,708 utility relocation design contract Tuesday night for the widening of Park Avenue from Gorge Road to the junction of Arkansas 5 and Arkansas 7.

In addition to design work, Garver LLC’s contract requires it to determine how much of the city’s estimated $3.8 million in relocation costs are eligible for reimbursement from the Arkansas Department of Transportation. The department reimburses utility owners for moving infrastructure that’s outside of the state’s right of way.

“Most of those utilities we believe are outside of the existing right of way, so we’ll be reimbursed by the state for moving the ones that are outside of the existing right of way,” City Engineer Gary Carnahan told the board last week. “The ones that are inside the existing right of way we have to pay for.

“So we have to do a very detailed survey and design of the new lines, and determine the cost breakdown of what’s reimbursed and what’s not reimbursed. All that’s complicated. It takes a lot of effort.”

Carnahan said the survey will also determine the city’s reimbursement on the Garver contract.

The board awarded Diamond Construction Co. a $1.8 million contract last year to move water and sewer lines for the widening that’s underway on Arkansas 7 south from the south shore bridge over Lake Hamilton to Arkansas 290.

The city budgeted $1.5 million in its water fund and $750,000 in its wastewater fund for 2018 utility relocations.

Construction of the Park Avenue project is scheduled to begin in 2020, according to the draft 2019-22 State Transportation Improvement Program. The $11.8 million project paid from National Highway Performance Program and state funds will widen 4.17 miles from Gorge Road to the junction of Arkansas 5 and Arkansas 7.