By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
A long-awaited project to update water lines and beautify downtown Overton began construction last week. Hundreds of orange cones were set up on Monday, Nov. 6 to redirect traffic to the far east side of Moapa Valley Blvd.
In addition, work crews began cutting pavement and moving dirt. This will begin the process of installing a new water pipeline on the main street from Bonelli Ave. on the north, to Alma Ave. to the south.
“After a five-month delay, we have finally gotten things started,” said Moapa Valley Water District General Manager Joe Davis. “It is good to finally have things underway.”
Davis said that the project entails a 120-day contract. But only about ⅔ of that time will require re-routing traffic with orange cones, he said.
Davis said that he was especially proud of the fact that most of the project will be utilizing local contractors. Eagle View Contractors out of Moapa will be heading up the project with the leadership of project managers Matt Kiniston and Jacob Jensen; both Moapa Valley residents.
“I was ecstatic that we would have local contractors doing the job,” Davis said. “They really sharpened their pencil and came out as the lower bidder.”
With most of the Eagle View employees also being local residents, quality expectations will be high on the project, Davis said.
“These are people who live in this town and they have community pride. Plus, if something is not right, someone will be calling their moms to complain about it,” Davis said with a smile.
In an interview last week, Eagle View Vice President Don Whipple said that he was pleased to have the project underway.
“It is great to have something that is close to home,” Whipple said. “I know that all our guys are happy to be doing this and we all hope to do a great job for the community.”
At the heart of the project is replacement of an old water installed decades ago, which is far too small to provide adequate modern fireflow water pressure. The old lines will be replaced by a new 12-inch water main. This is designed to be more than enough to meet the fireflow and accommodate the needs of any business wanting to build or expand in the area..
The project has long been on the district’s punch list. But funding has been an issue. For the pipe, fittings and other materials alone, the district had originally projected a cost of around $300,000. But paving the patch over the new water line was initially estimated at $1.4 million. This high cost continued to push the project back on the MVWD timeline.
A breakthrough finally came in a conversation with County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Davis said. The Commissioner heard of the need and went to work; along with the staff of Congressman Steven Horsford; to bring a federal infrastructure grant and help pay the costs for the project.
But Kirkpatrick had more on her mind for downtown Overton. She has long sought an opportunity for some beautification of the local business district to increase tourism visitation and encourage local economic development. She immediately saw this project as just such an opportunity. So she sought and procured funding for a series of updates.
As the water line is being installed, crews will also be giving the downtown a facelift. A number of landscaped curb “bump-outs” will be added, which will contain 18 newly-installed mature, red-push trees and other elements. The project will include the installation of a new irrigation system to service these new trees. Davis said that the County will be entering an agreement with the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), to do ongoing maintenance for these landscape elements.
The project aims to make the downtown area more walkable for pedestrians. New crosswalks will be established at the Perkins Ave. intersection, the Bonelli Ave. intersection and near the Alma Ave. intersection. These, along with the two already-existing crosswalks will also have push-button activated pedestrian flashers installed on poles arching across the street to alert traffic when people cross the road.
The highway will then be repaved from curb to curb. Then it will receive all new striping which will include new bike lanes on each side of the street.
All of these elements, while beautifying the downtown district, are expected to have the added benefit of creating natural speed deterrents for motorists through the area, Davis said.
To cap off the project, a new “Welcome to Overton” sign has been designed for the traffic island at Moapa Valley Blvd. and Cooper Street. This sign will replace the existing one which was installed several years ago through the grant-writing efforts of former MVTAB member Kurt Lytle.
But Davis assured that the old sign will not go to waste. Rather it is planned to be installed on the south end of Overton near the Lost City Museum, to welcome motorists approaching from that direction.
“This project will bring a whole new look and feel to downtown Overton,” Davis said. “And we hope it will make doing business in that area much easier for local small business owners.”
Don Whipple said that he and the Eagle View crews are excited to be involved in this long-awaited improvement. “There has not been much change to the downtown Overton for a very long time,” he said. “So it is great to be a part of something new.”
Whipple said that his crews have made extensive plans to work with local businesses and ensure that the project causes as little disruption as possible.
“We know these people,” Whipple said. “They are our friends and neighbors. We go to those shops and spend money there. So we want to minimize problems for them as much as possible”
Whipple said that the pipeline installation on the west side of the street will continue until around January of next year. Then the crew will switch to the east side of the road to install the beautification improvements there. By early April the project should be substantially complete.
“At the very end, we will mill the pavement for the entire thing and do open grade and striping,” Whipple added. “That requires warm temperatures. So it is possible that the final paving might be delayed slightly into May, depending on the weather.”
