The Etowah County Commission on Tuesday took care of one more step toward getting the Northeast Alabama Regional Megasite open for business.
Commissioners voted to accept a bid of $5,397,860 from Jordan Excavating of Hoover to construct a water transmission main to the 1,100-acre megasite.
They followed the recommendation of Goodwyn Mills Cawood, which contracted with the county last year to provide engineering and consulting services on the megasite.
American Rescue Plan Act funds will be used for the project. County Chief Administrative Officer Shane Ellison said the bid requires substantial completion in 180 days after a notice to proceed is issued, which should place it being finished in late spring or early summer next year.
The project includes 19,000 linear feet of main water line that will run from Canoe Creek to the intersection of Canoe Creek and Steele Station roads, according to commission President Craig Inzer Jr.
“It’s going to dead-end there for now until we get the infrastructure through the feds and ALDOT for the overpass (over Interstate 59) that we’re working on,” Inzer said.
A half-million-gallon elevated water tower, funded by Norfolk Southern Railway via the Growing Alabama tax credit program, is currently under construction at the megasite.
Once it’s completed and the overpass issue addressed, the plan is to bore underneath the interstate to connect the tower with the main line. It then would be linked to Rainbow City Utilities, which gets its water from Odenville.
Rainbow City officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the county last year to enter a working relationship on the megasite, including providing utility and first responder service.
Inzer said after Tuesday’s vote that it had been “an interesting few weeks” of lining up the engineering details and working with Rainbow City’s utility board about how to make the plan work and provide service to the megasite.
“We were able to work through those kinks,” he said. “It’s just another process that we have to do. Things are higher now so the bid came in a little bit higher, just like the water tank, but we’re going to see some things happen that are very beneficial.”
Inzer said he recently had a chance to see the 3,000-acre South Alabama Megasite in Baldwin County from Interstate 65.
“It’s amazing to see that thing and all the construction that’s going on with the pads and electricity,” he said. “They’re building a substation now, but we already have one because Alabama Power invested in us. We’re doing this water project so we’ll already have water there.”
Inzer said it’s not easy to visualize the progress that’s taking place at the NEAR Megasite “because things aren’t happening overnight like we want them to,” but that the county would continue to pursue funding for it from all sources.
“It takes time,” he added, “but I feel excited about what’s going on out there.”
Read More:Etowah County awards bid for main water line at megasite
2023-10-21 07:07:44
