Chris Pelletier, Nederland Public Works Manager . Spring time tends to be a tough transition for the Public Works Department. There’s always a balancing act between starting spring projects, maintenance activities and returning to winter snow plowing operations. 

The heavy snow in late March is typical for this time of year yet the Department is eager to begin work on the seemingly endless list of projects on its plate. Heavy spring snow does a number on roads this time of year when the ground is beginning to thaw making the gravel roads soft and susceptible to potholes while still frozen at the edges and in the shade of north facing slopes. Warm spring weather melts the snow and results in large potholes full of water. Trying to grade these areas will ultimately turn them into mud holes. As a temporary measure employees fill these potholes with rocky gravel while the snow melts. 

Public Works staff is working on a number of grants to help make improvements to the downtown area. The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) grant has been moving along for a couple of years now and is targeting West First Street to make improvements to the sidewalks and the Visitor’s Center Parking Lot.

Nederland was awarded $1.5 million administered through CDOT to make substantial improvements and preliminary designs are currently in review. Staff is collaborating with the Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) to fund portions of the project that aren’t covered within the criteria of the grant funding. It is through this partnership that staff can complete the missing pieces that are left out of the grant such as paving of the Visitor’s Center Parking Lot.

The first phase of this project is to bury the power lines on West First Street and a portion of Jefferson Street. We have been working with Xcel since last August to move through their planning process and it is finally through the design phase which will allow Xcel to release the design for construction. Xcel has a very tedious and rigid process that simply takes time and patience. Burying power lines is complicated with many factors that have to be considered. In addition to Xcel’s stringent processes, CenturyLink must be coordinated and CDOT ROW permitting needs to take place and the combination of coordinating these organizations is time consuming. Nonetheless, we anticipate beginning construction on this portion of the project by July.

Nederland received another grant called Safer Main Streets Initiative (SMS) also administered through CDOT for $350,000 to improve crosswalks and update the sidewalk on the north side of Highway 72 by the Nederland Library.

This grant was made possible with funding from the NDDA to support the required match. The project is in the beginning phase of planning and we are working through the preliminary steps of formally accepting the grant and completing the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with CDOT. Once these formalities are completed the Public Works staff can move into the design phase and begin the public input process and present these designs to various Nederland Advisory Boards. 

There will be two crosswalks that are the focus of this project. The crosswalk at the Visitor Center and the crosswalk at the Nederland Library will be improved and will provide continuity with the TIP project which will greatly expand connectivity in downtown Nederland when these projects are complete. We anticipate to start designing in the next six weeks or so and bring these designs to Nederland’s Advisory Boards. Any input is appreciated and encouraged as this moves through Nederland’s Planning Process. 

Related to these projects is another grant opportunity that is called Revitalizing Main Streets. Awards up to $2 million are available which is the result of funds created by Governor Polis’ Build Back Stronger initiatives to help communities make improvements to their main streets that target safety, economic vitality, and incentivize employment opportunities. 

Project ideas have been brought to the BOT and received support to bring these ideas to the NDDA. Staff wants to pursue more funding that could target major improvements to First Street and offer continuity to the other grant funded projects that are currently in design. Public Works staff is proposing burying power lines, sidewalk reconstruction on both sides of the street and creating loading bays to reduce congestion.

These project ideas are goals currently stated in the NDDA’s Master Plan, updated in 2017 and staff is planning to present this opportunity to the NDDA for support at their next meeting. These grants are competitive and require community support and matches in funding in order to compete with other communities across the state.

Finally, after several years of pursuing these funds Nederland was awarded $180,000 in funding from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) to make trail improvements to Barker Meadows Park. Nederland Public Works will provide the bulk of the work to match project funding and bring this project to fruition. This project is a collaboration with Nederland’s Parks Recreation Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB). The department is looking forward to beginning this project in April and continuing the work into fall. Public Works will be installing underground infrastructure prior to starting any surface improvements as the first step in the project. Staff will be excavating and installing a water line through Guercio Field for a future restroom and possibly irrigation starting at the end of April if weather allows.

In addition to collaboration and managing various streets infrastructure grants, Public Works is also focusing on utility priorities which include the development of the Master Infrastructure Plan update and the Rate Study update, which is also supported by grants, and the grit removal project that will require grant funding in which the department will pursue in July.

This month the Department made I&I repairs (Inflow and Infiltration) on Third Street. These repairs are critical to operations by reducing the amount of ground water that enters the collections system. Ground water entering the collection system reduces the capacity of the Wastewater Treatment Facility and must be mitigated to avoid the need to expand the facility prematurely. This is an ongoing effort to repair Nederland’s aging collection system. Over the last 10 years large sums of money have been invested in this effort and staff continues to make these repairs a priority.

Spring time also brings a change in water quality which requires extra attention to ensure proper treatment. Spring run-off causes turbidity and excess organics in the raw water that need to be monitored and treated accordingly. Staff has multiple tools and equipment to monitor changes in water chemistry along with historical data that aid staff in making the correct treatment decisions.

One of the more primitive tools that are fundamental to assessing the proper dosing of chemicals is a Jar Tester. This tool is often overlooked by inexperienced operators that treat water based on results rather than analyzing existing conditions to dose chemicals correctly. Understanding the proper way to jar test and the calculations involved in accurately dosing the jars and translating the results is a great visual indicator and education in the art of treating water. This is an important skill to pass onto operators that are learning the tools of the trade.

(Originally published in the April 15, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)