New Haven welcomes new sewer pipe

Project may be done this week to prevent backups in basements

Charles E. Ramirez / The Detroit News

New Haven -- The Macomb County Public Works Office is wrapping up a project to replace a crumbling pipe that threatened to cause sewer backups in the basements of 49 nearby homes over the past year.

"It's on track to be finished this week," said Carol Thurber, an engineer with Sterling Heights-based Fazal Kahn and Associates Inc.

Fazal Kahn is a civil engineering firm supervising the project to replace the pipe, which is on Clark Street west of Gratiot in New Haven.

Part of the duct -- a 50-year-old, 948-foot-long, 8-inch-diameter clay sewer pipe -- collapsed in October 2008 because of age and deterioration. It's being replaced with a PVC pipe, Thurber said. The pipe should last a minimum of 50 years, she said.

Some nearby homes' sewers backed up into the basements because of the collapsed duct. To prevent further problems, the village's Department of Public Works sent crews out once a week to pump out the line.

Resident Trudy Hankinson said she and her father, David Gapinski, were lucky enough to avoid any problems with sewage backups. Their home on Clark Street is a little more than a half-mile west of the Gratiot-Clark intersection.

Still, she said she's glad the pipe is being fixed.

The county contracted with New Haven-based Tyger Excavating for about $270,000.

The money comes from surplus funds for a sewer project for a regional prison done in the '80s.

The cost of replacing the sewer pipe came in about $120,000 less than engineers estimated because of an improved bid solicitation process that uses e-mail and Web sites to deal with contactors.

Using the Internet to solicit bids resulted in more contractors bidding for the job, according to Anthony Marrocco, Macomb County public works commissioner.

"The electronic bulletin board advertisement technique resulted in more bids at lower prices, and that saves money for New Haven taxpayers," he said in statement.

"We had 19 contractors bid on the Clark Street project, and that is a large number for a project of this size," Marrocco said. "There's no doubt these electronic bulletin boards advertisements are distributed to a much broader audience and market."

cramirez@detnews.com (586) 468-2905