Lorain Board of Control approves $8M change order for sewage tunnel

A change in plans has been approved for Lorain’s new sewage conveyance tunnel.

The Lorain Board of Control on Sept. 29 voted for changes totaling more than $8 million for a support building for the tunnel, which is being built under downtown Lorain in the area between Broadway and the Black River.

The changed plans will relocate a screening facility that will filter water before it flows into the sewage conveyance tunnel.

The change orders for the project were for $8.01 million for the contract with Walsh/ Super Excavators, which are leading the digging and reinforcement of the underground space, and for $170,027 for the contract with Electrical Contractors of America, which is building the electrical infrastructure of the tunnel.

The original plan was to put a screening building, to be designed with a lighthouse theme, on the site of the former Lorain Pellet Terminal, just north of the shaft dug down to the tunnel.

The changed plans will relocate the building about 500 to 600 feet south, closer to the Charles Berry Bascule Bridge. The new building will be constructed into the incline between Broadway north of West Erie Avenue and the river, so its roof will be an observation deck accessible to the public, Fowler said previously.

The building will be about 60-feet-by-100-feet in size and will have a gray brick facade with an aluminum railing around the deck on the top, according to plans.

The new location also leaves open space for future construction on the pellet terminal site.

The project cost went up in part because of additional piping needed to connect existing sanitary sewer lines to the new location, Fowler said previously.