By Leah Justice

leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com

Residents of the Sunny View community should soon see the end of a construction project along Hwy. 9 that began in December.

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Monday, June 15 and heard from county manager Marche Pittman that the water line extension should be completed by July 1.

Pittman said there were three small stream crossings completed in May with Steppe Construction, the contractor installing the line, working the entire month of May, with little to no interruptions from rain.

 

There has been a total of 31,030 ft. of water line installed between Sunny View Elementary School (Big Level Road) and the Mill Spring crossroads.

“The project right now is sitting at 96 percent complete,” Pittman told commissioners.

Commissioner chair Tom Pack asked how many, if any, stream crossings are left to complete.

Pittman answered that all stream crossings are complete and the only thing left is connections.

Commissioners approved a $1,567,340 contract with Steppe Construction last year with construction beginning in December 2014. Construction was done from Big Level Road back towards Mill Spring, in order to take advantage of school being out for Christmas break. Polk County appropriated $1.6 million to pay for the extension.

Commissioners decided to extend the water line in order to connect Sunny View Elementary School and the Sunny View Fire and Rescue Department with public water. The water source will come from the county’s connection in Green Creek to the Broad River Water Authority’s water source, administered throughout Polk County by the Inman-Campobello Water District (ICWD).

The connection to Sunny View will mean that all Polk County fire departments and schools are on public water instead of wells.

The schedule for the water line extension was for it to be complete prior to the 2015-2016 school year beginning in late August.