Tuesday, April 11, 2000
Sewer project rises in cost
Concrete artifacts add $1.1 million to riverfront cost
By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Parking garages of the past are costing taxpayers of the present.
The Metropolitan Sewer District announced Monday that fixing 156 sewers along the riverfront that regularly overflow into the Ohio River will cost $1.1 million more than previously thought.
That's because crews ran into the foundation of a former parking garage and the Dixie Terminal, which opened in October 1921 and featured a streetcar terminal, office building and shops.
Some of the concrete slabs are 10 feet thick and buried 20 feet underground.
“I wish we had a better crystal ball, but we didn't,” said John Deatrick, transportation director for Cincinnati, which is contracting for the Fort Washington Way road project. “There's no other way to look at this: It is a cost overrun.”
The idea of the project is to install a new sewer system for the riverfront while Fort Washington Way is being revamped.
Putting sewers in now, while the roadway is already torn up, saved taxpayers between $30 million and $40 million, Mr. Deatrick said.
The project incorporates 410 acres, extending from west of Smith Street to Eggleston Avenue. The southern boundary is the Ohio River, extending to Seventh Street.
Experts say the new system will overflow its rank mixture of raw sewage and rainwater into the Ohio fewer than five times a year. The current system overflows about 150 times every year.
But the cost of the project has been overflowing the budget, almost since the beginning.
What started out as a $4 million project doubled in price when more area — and more sewers — were covered. A $1.3 million cost overrun hit the project in April 1999 because of a tight labor market.
Hamilton County commissioners said Monday that there is no more money for overruns.
“We started on this project because it was the right thing to do at ($4 million),” Commission President Bob Bedinghaus said. “It's still the right thing to do at $10 million. But how do we know this is the end?”
Mr. Deatrick said officials with the city and MSD are confident that this will be the last overrun.
“Let's be clear: This will be the end,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “There is no more money.”
The additional $1.1 million cost will be paid for out of MSD's budget, which means there will be that much less to help prevent basement flooding and fix other problem sewers.
In addition, the city is kicking in $1 million for part of the work which was not budgeted by either the county or MSD, Mr. Deatrick said.
“There is no more money available from Fort Washington Way to cover the cost overruns,” he said.
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