Colfax still undecided about $325,000 3rd Ave. street project

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  Should the Colfax Village Board move forward with the $325,000 Third Avenue street project?

To help answer that question, the Colfax Village Board at the April 11 meeting scheduled a street committee meeting April 18 to further discuss Third Avenue.

Rand Bates, director of public works, reported to the village board on April 11 that he had done some investigation to try to determine why there is a depression in the street near the Carl Rudi residence on Third Avenue and why there is pressure on Rudi’s basement wall that has caused the wall to bow out and the ceiling tiles to shift.

Several residents, including Carl Rudi, attended a street committee meeting in March to say they have been waiting at least six years for Third Avenue to be repaired and repaved.

Rudi’s basement wall is bowed in about four inches, Bates told the village board.

As for the sinkhole in the street in front of Rudi’s residence, “I don’t what it is,” Bates said.

Another sinkhole has also appeared in the street in front of Midwest Classics, he said, adding that the manhole in the street was not much help either, because “the bottom of the manhole is gone.”

An attempt to videotape the sewer lines in the area revealed that while the line is clear going away from the Rudi residence, the line going toward the residence was filled with water, he said.

To see if some light could be shed on the situation, the sewer line was jetted, and “it was plugged pretty good,” Bates said.

The Rudi family is concerned about the street being dug up now because they are planning a graduation party. After the graduation party has been held, Bates said he plans to dig up part of the street to see if he can find some answers.

For some reason, there is “lots of pressure on (Rudi’s) basement,” Bates said.

The ground around the foundation and out toward the street is not soft, but the basement wall is bowed and the ceiling tiles have shifted three inches, he said.

A leak has not been detected in the lines, but that does not mean a leak is not there, Bates said.

Former village board member Beverly Schauer attended the meeting to say in her opinion, Third Avenue should be done this year.

“They have been driving on a terrible street for years … (the sinkhole) in front of Rudi’s did not just happen,” Schauer said.

Third Avenue was used as a detour when state Highway 40 was reconstructed, and “the big trucks did not help,” she said.

No one really knows when new sewer and water lines were last installed on Third Avenue.

Lisa Fleming, a civil engineer with Ayres Associates, said that when Fourth Avenue was done last year, the clay sewer pipes that were dug up dated back to the 1940s.

Schauer said she thought the pipes on Third Avenue were maybe 26 or 27 years old.

Village Trustee David Wolff said he had received a call from a Third Avenue resident who is concerned that the street will be bypassed again in favor of a different project.

At a previous meeting, Fleming had been asked to provide an estimate for Dunn Street as well.

Work on Dunn Street would cost about $170,000, and the Third Avenue project would cost about $325,000, Fleming said, adding that reconstructing Roosevelt Street would cost about $250,000.

Dunn Street has problem areas, but the real concern is Third Avenue, said Scott Gunnufson, village president.

Gunnufson said the appropriate action would be to have the street committee review, discuss and make a recommendation about a street project for this year.

Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, said she was working on getting numbers from the village’s financial consultant to figure out how to pay for a street project.

The Colfax Village Board scheduled a meeting of the street committee at 6 p.m. on April 18 at the Colfax Rescue Squad building on Railroad Avenue.

A fair number of village residents were expected to attend the street committee meeting, so village board members agreed that the Colfax Rescue Squad conference room would provide more room to accommodate the public.