Hogan Blvd. to see new sewer line

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MILL HALL - PennDOT is preparing to revamp Hogan Boulevard, and the borough plans to get in on the ground floor.

Or under it, to be more precise.

The borough recently undertook a massive sewer repair and replacement project throughout the community, using PennVest funds to finance it. With PennDOT's planned work, Mill Hall now has the opportunity to replace this particular line, also using PennVest funds.

The line runs across Fishing Creek at First Street, and from there to Pennsylvania Avenue where it moves out onto Route 150 at the Route 220 ramp. From there, it runs behind buildings on Hogan Boulevard to Draketown Road.

Originally projected to cost half a million dollars, the project total has risen to $760,000, Borough Council noted Tuesday.

Council members may wish to simply use the $500,000 as planned and replace pipe until the money runs out, but the state Department of Environmental Protection wants the whole line replaced and has quashed that idea, council heard.

Another option is to slip-line the existing pipe instead of replacing it.

However, engineer Todd Pysher said, the idea is that if something must be done with the line, it should be done properly so council isn't right back in the same spot 10 or 15 years from now.

Pysher spent the earlier part of the council meeting speaking with the East Nittany Valley Joint Municipal Authority Board about the project. East Nittany Valley's sewage flows through the borough's lines on its way to the treatment plant in Lock Haven, and the authority pays Mill Hall for the privilege. East Nittany Valley's share of the cost of this new line is estimated to be $333,000 which is $90,000 more than originally estimated.

The authority is still on board and voted last night to go with the project anyway.

HRI Inc., the contractor on the bulk of the $3 million sewer work, still has two water problems it must fix before the borough will sign off on its work, one at the Powlus property and another where the train station once stood, which is now an industrial site. Council is not happy with HRI's lack of response to the problems, and members said they intend to hold the final payment until something is done.

And, if the borough crew must make the repairs, that cost will come off HRI's bill.

Borough Foreman Brandon Coleman reported the paving, new curbing and new sidewalks on lower Chestnut Street are almost complete. The project by Charles Construction also widened the roadway.

The street has needed work for some time, Council President Daniel D. Duck Jr. reported, but there seemed to be no sense in repaving it until the sewer below it was upgraded. The water line also has been upgraded and now the new paving runs on top of new utilities, he said.

A total of 9,400 feet of roadway in the borough has been worked on this year, Coleman added.

Also at Hogan Boulevard, PPL Gas and Utilities wants to replace its four-inch steel gas line which is attached to the Flemington Bridge and to bury it under the creek. The borough owns a piece of property at the bridge where PPL plans to bore, and council approved giving the right-of-way for the work, with the condition the property remain in, or be restored to, its current condition.

The line is being moved, according to a PPL representative who attended the council meeting, because salt and corrosives from the bridge traffic have caused leaks.

The plan is to bore under the creek from the Flemington side, possibly as soon as next month.