Johnston County will borrow $5,888,170 to pay for improvements in the McGee’s Crossroads Water District. In September 2017, a loan application was submitted to the NC Division of Environmental Quality for Phase 1 and 2 improves. Commissioners adopted the project budget in July 2019.
The project will include the replacement of 14,900 linear feet of 12 inch water main along Highway 210 and the replacement of 18,380 linear feet of 12 inch water main with a 20 inch water main.
According to Chandra Farmer, Director of Utilities, the improvements will increase transmission capacity and replace an existing water main that has experienced multiple failures since it was installed in 1999.
Commissioners questioned Mrs. Farmer about the multiple failures in a 21 year-old water line. She said the pipe originally installed had a thinner wall. The new replacement pipe will have a thicker wall. Farmer said there may have also been an installation issue that created some of the problems. She said utility officials were investigating the failures to learn more.
Commissioners unanimously approved a request by the utility director to borrow money from the Water Infrastructure Fund over a period of 20 years at an interest rate of 1.82 percent. Commissioner Jeff Carver expressed concern about the length of the loan.
Hall Contracting Corporation of Charlotte, NC was awarded a bid of $4,992,500 for construction. They were the lowest bidder out of 11 contractors that submitted bids for the work. The additional project costs will cover engineering, easement preparation and acquisition, and loan closing expenditures.
