1,000-ft. sewer line replaced on Darius Avenue in Rangely

Residents on Darius Avenue had to do without water during the day last week — at least for a few days.
But now they have a new sewer line.
“About 1,000 feet of sewer line (was installed),” said Town Manager Peter Brixius. “It affected residents for about three or four days, where their water was shut off, but everything was back on throughout the evening.”
The sewer line repair project, which impacted residents in the east part of town, used “a really cool technology,” Brixius said of the glass-reinforced pipe insertion.
“It creates a pipe within a pipe, rather than excavating a pipe,” Brixius said. “It’s being widely used in some of the bigger metropolitan areas. It comes in about a third of the cost of excavating and replacing the pipeline. It’s pretty slick technology.”
The cost of the project, which started May 13, was about $50,000.
Brixius and town council members participated in a joint meeting May 11 with town council members from Meeker and Rio Blanco County commissioners.
“There was a lot of discussion of economic development and on affordable housing,” Brixius said. “As far as meetings go, that was one of the best elected-official meetings that I’ve been to. There was a lot of good and frank discussion between the two town boards and the commissioners. There were no actionable steps, but it set the stage for future progress and cooperation.”
County Commissioner Ken Parsons of Rangely said the joint meeting was productive.
“It was a good meeting,” Parsons said. “There was a discussion over how Rangely has promoted and assisted with new development over the past few years. It included the brownfield (cleanup and redevelopment) projects, property purchase, rehabilitation and resale, working with contractors. We talked a bit about past efforts with local development authorities, the differences in how each end of the county handled monies and projects, and the successes and failures of those efforts.”
Elected officials also talked about the county’s master plan, which is going through the process of being updated.
“The discussion included keeping the plan consistent with the plans of the two towns, the use of zoning to focus development, impact fee effects on development and similar issues,” Parsons said.
The joint meeting also included a discussion about a new citizens’ group that has involved residents from both ends of the county and focused on economic development.
“(The conversation) mainly centered around how to franchise those people into organizations that are already in play, to combine their passion with the structure that’s in progress,” Brixius said.
In other economic news, workers are arriving in the area for the Northwest Pipeline project, Brixius noted.
“We’ve got some employees and management coming in,” Brixius said. “They’ve been accumulating equipment and trailers they will be using on the site. They’re really brought in a lot of equipment. We should see that project kicking off in full swing in a couple of weeks.”
The project will consist of more than 26 miles of 24-inch pipeline to connect the White River hub, at the Enterprise Gas Processing Plant near Meeker, to Northwest’s main pipeline, south of Rangely, along Highway 139.