Flower Creek Dam nears completion

The 2015 summer construction season was a busy one for City of Libby crews and contractors.

City administrator Jim Hammons said in addition to work nearing completion on the new Flower Creek Dam, city crews paved roughly 25 blocks of streets and worked with local business owners to improve several downtown sidewalks.

The dam is set for completion early next year, probably before the end of January.

“We are looking at an early to mid-January completion,” said Paul Burnham with Morrison-Maierle, the city’s contractor for the project. “The contractor is completing the right abutment retaining walls and rock fill.”

In addition to work on the dam, Hammons said the city crews have done a great deal of paving and sidewalk work in the downtown area.

“Getting the downtown core area streets and sidewalks done has been good,” he said.

The city has a program in place to assist residents and local businesses with sidewalk replacement. The city covers the cost and labor of removing the old sidewalk and also supplies the gravel for the new project. For residents, the city kicks in $6 per running foot toward the replacement cost of the sidewalk. For businesses, the city contributes the work on the curbs and gutters.

Next year Hammons hopes to use the city’s construction budget to chipseal the newly paved roads from the past few years. Chipsealing is a process by which oil and finely crushed rock chips are applied to paved surfaces in order to seal and protect them, increasing their longevity.

“We had about 25 blocks of paving this year,” Hammons said. “It was about the same as 2014. We need to cover up that new pavement and some old stuff that can still be saved. I’d hate to have to do all that paving again.”

Hammons said another issue facing the city is the continued decline of water delivery systems, primarily due to aging water mains.

“We’ve got 40 plus miles of water main in the city,” Hammons said. “I’m guessing 35 of that needs to be replaced. It’s this way around the country, infrastructure’s a big issue.”