Lewiston looking to invest in infrastructure

It doesn’t take an engineering degree to understand one of the many shortcomings of downtown Lewiston’s infrastructure.

The pipes carrying stormwater from Normal Hill to the top of the stairs at Pioneer Park are about one foot in diameter and the ones at the bottom in downtown are 1½ foot in downtown, said Lewiston Public Works Director Dustin Johnson.

The line connecting the top and the bottom of the steps is about eight inches in diameter, Johnson said, speaking Thursday at a Lewis Clark Valley Chamber of Commerce lunch at Hells Canyon Grand Hotel.

That issue is among those on a lengthy list that will be corrected if city of Lewiston voters approve a bond May 20, he said.

If the measure passes, Lewiston residents wouldn’t pay higher taxes because the city has identified existing sources of revenue to repay it, Johnson said.

The city is hoping to complete an upgrade of downtown’s water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure in a single project instead of doing the work in segments.

One of the advantages of a single project, Johnson said, is downtown businesses would only be disrupted once, not multiple times.

New 16-inch diameter, ductile iron underground water lines are the centerpiece of the improvements.

One section of the line would be on Main Street between Fifth and Ninth streets. Another would be installed on D Street between First and Fifth streets. A third section would run on Third Street between D and Beachy streets.

That work is being covered with about $3.2 million the city has in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Those funds have to be spent by the end of 2026.

Other sections of line would be included if the bond passes, Johnson said.

One starts on Snake River Avenue west of First Avenue, goes north and then heads along Main Street to Fifth Street.

A leg would be put on First Street between Main and D streets. New line would also be installed on D Street between Temple Lane and Seventh Street.

The new lines would replace a network that was constructed in 1909 and 1920 that range from 4 inches to 12 inches in diameter, Johnson said.

The project would also include upgrades to the sewer, stormwater collection system and streets.

The sewer lines underneath downtown are where all of the city’s wastewater other than what comes from North Lewiston goes before being funneled underneath the Clearwater River to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, he said.

Many of the sewer lines need to be larger, such as a section on First Street that’s two feet in diameter but should be three feet in diameter, Johnson said.

Downtown Lewiston has a system of pipes that gather stormwater and carry it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ ponds by the levee where it is treated before being released into the river, he said.

“The problem is it’s a hodgepodge of pipes that are not necessarily connected and not necessarily sized accordingly,” he said. “We’re trying to get this network to be robust enough to where we’re not flooding out businesses, and specifically our hospital.”

Those upgrades would be in addition to a new design for traffic in downtown.

A preliminary design, which still has plenty of time to be discussed, Johnson said, includes three roundabouts.

“Transportation is obviously a component of this, but it is not the driver behind it,” he said.

Two roundabouts would be immediately east of the Interstate Bridge on Main Street. They would regulate traffic entering and exiting the bridge, as well as Main Street’s intersections with Snake River Avenue and First Street. The third roundabout would be installed at First and D streets.

Two-way traffic would be introduced on Main and D streets. Right now, Main Street is one way carrying eastbound traffic between First and 11th streets. D Street runs parallel to Main Street with westbound traffic in that same section.

“We live and die with what’s underneath the ground and we need to replace these pipes,” Johnson said. “What we put on top of that, that’s the frosting on the cake. We’ve got to worry about how we’re going to bake this cake. Then we’ll frost it later.”

The project would be paid for with a number of resources. Besides the ARPA money, the city would draw on money earmarked for infrastructure in the existing rates Lewiston property owners pay for sewer, water and stormwater, and the bond.

How much the bond will be hasn’t been established. The estimate for the project is $37.7 million, but Lewiston Mayor Dan Johnson said Thursday after the lunch he doesn’t expect the bond to be that high.

The city will look at how much money it has on hand for the project, figure out how costs will be distributed to underground utilities and look at rates and terms of bonds, he said.

The specifics of the bond will be discussed at a March 3 work session of the city council and go to the council for adoption March 10, the mayor said. Taxes wouldn’t increase if the bond passed. That’s because it would be repaid with a portion of the $1.5 million to $2.3 million annually the city has earmarked for repairs and construction of major streets the city has already been setting aside in its budgets for the last three years.

“I’m a fiscally conservative public servant and I can think of no more fiscally conservative way to fund that infrastructure than to do it this way,” Johnson said.

The work is important for the city’s future, he said.

“We’re continually investing in our infrastructure so that we can have a fully functioning city,” he said. “Those are good goals. That’s, I think, essentially what government (is) about. Then we get out of the way and we let you run your businesses.”

The upgrades will open the door for more development, Johnson said.

“When we are finished with this project, it will be an invitation to those outside businesses or somebody from Lewiston that wants to expand,” he said.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.