Highway crews credited for work on Katrine Lane sewer line project

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. >>

Town highway crews are being praised for work they did to bring the Katrine Lane sewer line project under its $750,000 budget and for mitigating delays created by what was described as CSX’s slow-decision making process.

The update was provided during a public hearing Thursday. Consultant Mark Blauer said the half-mile of lines was done by town employees, except for the section near the rail crossing.

“It took CSX awhile a while to decide whether they wanted us to bore under the railroad or if they wanted us to ... abandon the road crossing over the tracks and put an alternative road (connecting Leggs Mills Road) to get out,” he said.

Blauer added that the project was further delayed because CSX was responsible for overseeing traffic control while the lines were installed under the tracks.

“We were held up for a number of weeks in August, September and even October because CSX had to assign its own flag man,” he said, “so the job was held up for eight weeks to 10 weeks waiting for them to assign a flag person.”

The project connected 34 residential properties, five business parcels and nine vacant lots to sewer lines, with the additional flow adding about 9,185 gallons per day to the amount sent to the waste water treatment plant.

Grant funding was approved through the state Office of Community Renewal in December 2016, with Blauer noting the town was granted a four-month extension to use the funding because of the delays.

Blauer said the final bills have not been received, but town crews’ work kept costs low enough for grant funding to cover the entire project cost.

“We did a much better job than if we had a third party contractor for everything,” he said.

“In my experience I’ve never seen a more efficient operation than we have here at the highway and sewer departments,” Blauer added. “They can install sanitary sewer projects themselves. They are that good, and this is a low- pressure sewer system because of the elevation difference between Route 9W and the (Lower Esopus) creek, so you’re fighting gravity and they put in a sophisticated system without any trouble at all.”