SNOHOMISH — The city has canceled its contract with a utility line builder that was replacing pipes in a block of Avenue D, is working with the contractor’s bonding company to be partially compensated over the delays and will hire a different builder, city public works director Nova Heaton said Tuesday, June 6.
The contractor it had hired used up all the work days in the contract without finishing the job, Heaton said.
The job is to install needed sewer, water and stormwater replacement lines. It was scheduled to be done by this month. The city didn’t reply by press time on how
much of the work was left incomplete.
The utility job required closing a lane of Avenue D from First to Second streets as the lines were underneath, and the closure began to frustrate drivers. The contractor patched the road last week to reopen the lane.
The contractor got the job because it made the lowest bid at $493,452. The city is obligated by state law to hire the lowest bidder, and did so in November.
The city budgeted $592,000 for the utilities project.
The contractor was Northern Contractors LLC. A Tribune reporter attempted to reach it, but multiple phone calls to the company’s known number wouldn’t go through.
The city will be hiring a separate paving contractor to repave this section of
Avenue D. Bids for that job closed on June 7.
Road repairs made
The block of Avenue D between First and Second streets had pavement put back down as seen Wednesday, June 7.
