KINGSTON >> The city has begun seeking bids from contractors for an ambitious underground archway project to stabilize soil at the Washington Avenue sinkhole site.
City Engineer Ralph Swenson said the project which will include the construction of a 10,000-ton archway around a 100-year-old leaky stormwater tunnel that has been blamed for creating the sinkhole.
Additionally, Swenson said, bids are being sought for a piping project at the nearby Tannery Brook.
Swenson said he expects to appear before the Common Council’s Finance/Economic Development Committee in mid-March to request borrowing for the projects. The bids are due March 4, he said.
If the Common Council approves the borrowing at its April meeting, both projects could start in May, Swenson said.
Swenson said the most recent estimate for the sinkhole archway project is about $2.6 million. The piping project is estimated at about $943,000.
The total cost of work related to the sinkhole, which opened nearly four years ago near Linderman Avenue, has now risen to more than $7 million.
Swenson said the archway project is a “specialized contract” and that he expects “at least three” firms to bid on it.
The piping project is likely to draw “quite a few” bidders, Swenson said.
The underground archway is to be 50 feet high and 175 feet long. It was recommended by Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers of New York City.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration has allocated $1.2 million for work related to the sinkhole but has told the city that it must get permission for nearby property owners to use their land before the archway project can go out to bid.
On Monday, Swenson said “a couple” of easements had yet to be obtained. The city needs 18 altogether in order to, among other things, store equipment for the work.
The city’s attorney, Andrew Zweben, has expressed confidence that all necessary easements for the archway project will be obtained. If not, Zweben had said, the city could alter the construction plan.
The archway is to be built beneath the surface of Washington Avenue and above the stormwater tunnel, with the goal of stabilizing the soil at the site.
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