The Town of Herndon awarded a contract for waterline improvements along Pine Street. Photo by Alex McVeigh.
Herndon — The Herndon Town Council awarded contracts for two major downtown projects at their Tuesday, July 9 meeting. The first project will underground utilities along Station Street.
There are currently nine utility poles on Station Street, starting just north of Pine Street and all are located before Park Avenue. “I’m all for under grounding, those poles are ugly, and if you’re walking into downtown Herndon, the nice buildings are blocked by rows of power cables,” said Joe Palesis of Herndon.
“On both ends of Station Street, instead of those utility poles there are nice-looking light poles, I’d much rather see that.”
The town awarded the contract after rejecting all bids at their May 28 meeting, with none of the three coming in at a price the town found acceptable. This cycle of bids wrapped up June 20, and Celtek, Inc. was awarded the contract.
“This is the first step in our Station Street Improvement project, which will be a series of projects, until we have a streetscape a new look for the downtown,” said Bob Boxer, the town’s director of Public Works.
The town of Herndon approved a contract for $398,950, as well as $60,000 in contingency. The project is part of the town’s Capital Improvement Program.
The town also awarded contracts for waterline improvements along Pine Street and Station Street. The original proposal included Locust Street as well, but it was modified after all bids were rejected and the town’s plan was modified.
“We put this out to bid with Pine and Station Streets as the base bid, and Locust Street as an alternate bid,” Boxer said. “We feel Pine and Station street are a critical part of our infrastructure that we needed to get done downtown before [we] start streetscapes and give us 40-50 years of not having to do more work on those streets.”
After negotiations with the town, E.E. Lyons Construction agreed to a bid of $341,945 and a contingency of $50,000.
“We did not award the Locust Street improvements, we are currently looking for alternatives for that work in the near future,” Boxer said. “It will most likely be one by a combination of town Public Works staff and a contractor.”
Boxer also said a major part of the improvements will include staying in constant contact with the businesses in downtown Herndon.
“We do intend to do outreach to business community,” he said. “We will reach out for both of these projects to do what we can to make this as painless as possible and to get out of there as soon as possible.”