Major work set for Perkins Ave.

SANDUSKY — Get ready for another water line replacement project on a portion of Perkins Avenue in Sandusky. But, officials stressed, it shouldn't take as long or be as elaborate compared to a major initiative wrapping up last year. During a recent public meeting, city commissioners supported a task to resurface Perkins Avenue between Milan Road (U.S. 250) and Remington Avenue. It also includes replacing an aging water line. "This existing 8-inch and 6-inch cast iron mains, originally constructed in 1935, have experienced five breaks since 2021," said city public works director Aaron Klein, noting a new, larger line will remedy this situation. Local officials obtained a federal loan to initially cover project expenses, totaling about $628,000. This low-interest loan will defray the city's obligation. Officials intend to draw down from a city water account to eventually offset what they owe. Water line work should occur before street repaving, likely around December or January 2025. Officials want to pave the road by spring 2025. This work follows up on other city-based projects to improve aging infrastructure. Most notably, city officials replaced a water line and resurfaced Perkins Avenue from Anita Drive to Mills Creek bridge, roughly 2 miles. That work, which took several months to complete throughout 2023, totaled $6.4 million. "Staff has been proceeding systematically with improving all of our infrastructure over the past decade," said Klein, noting this upcoming job is much smaller in scope compared to what previously occurred on Perkins Avenue. Klein then offered some insight into how city officials proceed with this type of work. "For sewer, water and street projects, we typically proceed with the most problematic locations based on available funding, but we prefer to address underground issues prior to resurfacing where appropriate," he added. "The fact that we have seen an increase in breaks over the past few years put this project on our radar. Since we have outside grant funding to resurface this section of roadway in 2025, we wanted to address the water line beforehand." Regarding traffic, Klein offered his best guess as to what could occur. "The plan right now is to maintain two-way traffic, but it may be reduced to one lane causing delays," he said.