The completion of two years' worth of infrastructure improvements in downtown Lewiston started as a federally funded flood-control project. But by putting FEMA money together with appropriations from the city of Lewiston and its Urban Renewal Agency, the city's Public Works Department was able to accomplish far more.
"That was the catalyst for the whole bigger project," city stormwater engineer Joe Kaufman said of the federal grant that paid for new stormwater lines, including several large outfalls bored underneath rail lines and the Levee Bypass.
Stormwater was only one component of the overall effort, dubbed the Infrastructure Repair and Replacement Project by the city. Staff members convinced the Lewiston Urban Renewal Agency and the city council to piggyback on that project by tackling several other problems downtown while streets were torn up to install the new stormwater lines.
FEMA supplied $1.7 million, while Public Works matched that amount by tapping water, transportation, wastewater, stormwater and engineering funds. The URA added another $1 million, with the Federal Transit Administration chipping in $300,000, the Port of Lewiston $100,000 and local businesses $45,000.
That partnership yielded 4,600 feet of new water lines that will more than triple flows at some fire hydrants, lowering fire suppression costs for developers who may have been sitting on the sidelines. New water lines also improve reliability in an area where some pipes were more than a century old, avoiding breaks and unbillable losses of city water.
Nearly a mile of streets was completely rebuilt, starting with the eastern portion of D Street and the northern half of Ninth Street in 2015, and New Sixth and F streets this year. Work also included traffic signal upgrades, new signage and other minor safety upgrades.
"We really tried to make F Street more inviting to the public," Kaufman said.
Contractors also built 4,000 feet of new sidewalks, including 27 new disabled access ramps. Those improvements help reduce the cost of business redevelopment, according to the city.
About 3,600 feet of conduit the Port of Lewiston will use for fiber optic data lines, 15 new parking stalls and some minor landscaping rounded out the scope of the project. But the stormwater work, even though it is largely unseen, remains the centerpiece.
Coupled with an earlier FEMA-funded project further east, the new stormwater system should help drain the downtown area, even in a 50-year rainfall event, and protect millions of dollars in property from flood damage. In fact, the dollar value of that property was a major factor that helped earn the city a high score when FEMA evaluated grant applications.
"How much damage are you avoiding over the next 50 years?" said Kaufman, who helped compile and submit the application shortly after he started at Public Works in 2011.
The project also disconnected old stormwater lines that ran underneath businesses, which can be difficult and costly to repair when a break occurs. And although the project is essentially complete, enough of the stormwater funding was left over for the city to bore one more stormwater outfall at the corner of Capital and Seventh streets starting this week.
Other than that, the only items left on the punch card are some street signs, striping and some landscaping, Kaufman said.
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Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.
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