10th Street sewer separation starts

FORT MADISON – Work has begun on a massive separation of sanitary and storm sewer lines on 10th Street from the Mississippi River to the tower on Denmark Hill.
The $8.4 million project is part of an EPA-mandated separation of the pipes used to move sewer waste and storm water to the city’s water treatment plant. The statewide mandate requires the city to separate the pipes before 2039. The city did some preliminary work at Avenue H when they redid that stretch of Business 61 through Fort Madison.
City Public Works Director Mark Bousselot said plans are to have the work completed by November of 2027, but contractors are hoping to have the work completed before the end of the summer of 2027.
“When they complete the project, it will be separated sewer and replaced water mains at crossings where needed, all under new pavement,” Bousselot said.
Initial work will be tearing up roadway to access current piping and install new piping. That work will be repaired with temporary foundation and seal coating until all the work is done, and then new pavement and curbing will be installed along 10th Street.
That work will also spill into the east half of downtown streets including Avenues G and F where new sidewalks and curbs will be installed, including some reuse of paver bricks that are being pulled up during some of the work.
Bousselot said bricks will be replaced south of Avenue H, but other bricks will likely be used as part of the 10-foot sidewalks along Avenue G downtown. That means historical bricks will be reused to help make half of the sidewalks on the west half of the 900 block of Avenue G brick.

Bousselot said the project is a moving project, so different sections of 10th Street will be closed at different times. Current work is being done between Avenues G and F, but when they are done, they will move toward the north and keep going in that fashion until all the separation is completed.
He said caution and patience is urged during the work.
“Obviously, use caution when driving in the area. We’re going to work with businesses and homeowners to maintain as much access as possible,” he said. “We’re going to post as much stuff as we can on the city Facebook page. This is considered a moving operation, so when they get done in one spot, they move to another spot.”
He said the challenge will be the one ways where traffic may be rerouted in another direction in the construction zones to help business stay open and allow work to be done at the same time.
“People will be going westbound on Avenue G and eastbound on Avenue F while some of that work is being done. And we’re going to sign one side of the roads as no parking. It’s challenging with the one-ways because the block between 9th and 10th, and 10th and 11th, the one way may turn into a two-way road to allow access to homes until it’s completed,” Bousselot said. “But it won’t be permanent.”
The funding for the work is in the form of a $2.4 million Congressional Appropriation, a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant, and the rest will be through the State Revolving Loan fund program. Bousselot said.
He said in the next month the project will move toward Avenue E. The Avenue F intersection will be the next closure and then E and so forth up 10th Street. Bousselot said the city is trying to maintain as much traffic access as possible as the work progresses.
Langman Construction out of Rock Island is the general contractor for the project.