Work is expected to begin soon on Broad Street to repair a collapsed sewer line that has been blocked off with cones and barrels for the last few months.

The Selma City Council awarded a bid for the project to Tri County Construction for an estimated $149,000.

Selma Mayor George Evans said he expects work to begin on Broad Street within the next 10 to 15 days and after a preconstruction meeting is held Wednesday.

“[Work] has been ordered, and a preconstruction meeting will be held in order to get the details of timelines and everything,” Evans said.

Ray Hogg, the city’s engineering consultant, expects the project to take 30 days, but it could take longer depending on the weather and other potential delays.

“I believe we’ve given the contractor 60 days of contract time. They should finish it [by then] if they don’t encounter any problems or have weather delays,” Hogg said “It probably shouldn’t take more than 30 days to complete, but it may take longer.”

The project will cover about two blocks on Broad Street between Philpot and L.L. Anderson Avenues in front of Tabernacle Baptist Church. Tri County Construction will have to dig up the collapsed pipe and replace it.

“One other part of it is they’re going to have to do what we call bypass pumping,” Hogg said.

“There is still sewage flowing through those pipes, so they’ll go up stream and block it off and put a pump to pump around the section they are replacing at that time.”

The city is also preparing to send out requests for proposals for cave-ins on Lauderdale Street and part of the riverbank that collapsed at the intersection of Church Street and Water Avenue.

Hogg said the plans are completed for Lauderdale Street, and he expects bids to go out by the end of the week.

“We’re going to open those bids on Friday. We’ve already contacted four or five potential bidders, and I think we’ve got at least three that are interested, maybe four,” Hogg said. “You never know how many are going to bid, so that’s why we contact as many as we can.”

Hogg said the project will start at the Bienville Monument and go up Lauderdale Street to an alley across from the courthouse.

“We are going to install a 36–inch concrete pipe, junction boxes and whatever else we need to tie in the other pipes that are coming into the side of it,” Hogg said.

The new pipes will be tied into pipes that were replaced in front of the courthouse last fall.

“What we did last year is in good condition, although we’ve got to go back and repair the streets where they’ve settled,” Hogg said. “Outside of that, the pipe and construction is in excellent shape.”

Plans are almost completed for the Church Street project, according to Hogg.

“We’re in the process of completing our plans and specifications on that,” Hogg said. “That one is a little tougher, a little more delicate. We hope to have them finished in about a week, and I will review them with the mayor first and then we’ll solicit bids as well.”

The project will call for new pipes and a retaining wall along with a two-foot layer of riprap to repair the bank.

If all goes as planned, Hogg said he expects all three projects to be completed by November.

“By the time we get these next two projects bid out and under construction, realistically I see them being finished by maybe some time in November, definitely before Christmas,” Hogg said.

According to Evans, the majority of the funding for all three projects will come from gasoline tax.