By james art Madison Township Trustees have selected a company to replace a damaged culvert on Emerson Road.
This project will be executed by DRS Enterprises Inc. from Garfield Heights.
The trustees, during their Oct. 24 meeting, voted unanimously to enter into a contract with DRS. The company will be paid up to approximately $491,222 for its work.
Civil and environmental consultants, who perform engineering services for the municipality on a contract basis, evaluated all seven bids that were received for the project and recommended a contract with DRS.
Bids ranged from the low bid submitted by DRS to the high of $649,917 submitted by SiteWORX of Lebanon, Ohio.
Of the seven companies that submitted proposals, DRS had the only bid below $500,000.
Township Administrator Tim Brown said DRS is best known for its work as a directional drilling company.
“But they’ve gotten into the world of excavation and culvert replacement in the last few years, so they’re expanding their horizons,” he said.
Brown said DRS had never done work for the municipality before, but CEC did its due diligence in researching all seven companies and determined DRS was the lowest and best candidate.
CEC will also provide construction management services for the project.
DRS will install a new culvert on Emerson Road, about two-tenths of a mile south of Griswold Road.
The City of Madison wants to replace the existing culvert due to its poor condition.
A culvert is a tunnel or pipe that allows water to flow under the roadway. The channel installed under Emerson Road is an old sandstone structure that is shaped like a box and water from a tributary of Mill Creek runs through the channel.
In February, the Lake County Engineer’s Office inspected the culvert while preparing plans to repair the structure, and during the inspection, the engineering team discovered a large crack in the ceiling of the sandbox that was “determined to be a significant hazard to the stability of the culvert.”
“If left as found, the entire road will sooner or later fail, endangering commuters,” Brown said in a Sept. 17 email exchange.
However, the township monitors the location frequently to ensure public safety on Emerson Road, Township Services Superintendent Paul Cook said in a Sept. 17 email exchange. So far, the municipality has not found it necessary to restrict the movement of cars in this section.
Trustees in the spring declared the damaged culvert on Emerson Road to be in a state of emergency and in need of urgent repair or replacement. The trustees also authorized the CEC to carry out a survey, hydraulic analysis and replacement plans.
These plans were completed by the CEC and approved by the Lake County Engineer’s Office.
The work to be carried out by DRS includes removing the existing pit drain; and installing a new precast concrete culvert, catch basins and storm pipes and related items, according to a bid announcement for the project.
The expected deadline for the completion of the undertaking is July 1 next year, the announcement notes.
Madison Township entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Lake County Stormwater Management Department to receive reimbursement for the entire cost of the project.