Apr 19, 2006 By Christine Haines 3 min read

BROWNSVILLE – The walls are up on a new sewage treatment plant for the Brownsville Municipal Authority, but the heavy equipment and piles of construction material are evidence that there is still plenty of work to be done. The project is being carried out in two phases. The first phase includes the treatment building, holding tanks, new offices, a laboratory and reconstruction of the main pump station, known as A Station, located on Bank Street near the wharf.

Engineer and project manager William Johnson of Fayette Engineering said the contractor working on A Station is nearing completion and it should be ready for operation in three weeks, if the weather remains good. The entire project, including paving an area near the pump station as well as the Bank Street lot if money is available, could take another two months to complete.

That may not be quick enough to meet a request made by Brownsville Borough Council asking that the wharf area and parking lot be finished before the Brownsville Area High School prom and the Brownsville Eagles anniversary celebration, both of which are in May. A complaint was also lodged about fencing being damaged at Central Park near the entrance to the wharf.

“For the prom we’ll have that area all cleaned up so the kids can get on the boat,” Johnson said. “As far as Central Park goes, it makes no sense to do anything until we pull the temporary pump station.”

Johnson said all areas affected by the construction will be returned to the same or better condition than they were in before the project started.

The authority Tuesday awarded contracts for the installation of new sewer lines throughout the community as part of Phase II of the project. Three separate contractors were awarded contracts for the work. They were D and M Contracting with a bid of $1.774 million, Kukurin Contracting with a bid of $496,694, and J.R. Contracting with a bid of $543,318.

It was the second time the work was bid. Johnson said that while the low bidders didn’t change, the amounts they bid were lower by $224,000.

Work has already begun on one part of Phase II, the elimination of a pump station by installing a new sewer line from High Street to Second Street at Washington Street.

“As of April 15, we had the right to possession of all easements needed for the Washington Street project,” solicitor Ernest DeHaas reported.

Authority chairman Fred Provance said the lower part of the project is near completion. Johnson said the entire Washington Street project could be done in less than a month.

The authority board continued its April meeting until April 27 at noon for review of an audit report.