It may not be the biggest project that the Elizabethton City Water Resources and Engineering departments have been involved with, but it will be difficult.

The two departments, which are headed by Johann Coetzee, will collaborate with engineering firm Mattern & Craig out of Johnson City to design and engineer the moving of city water utilities as the Tennessee Department of Transportation reconstructs and widens the stretch of highway between Pal’s and the Shell Station on West Elk Avenue in Elizabethton.

“It is a very tight space to work in,” said Coetzee. “It is not the biggest project, but it will demand a lot of care and attention.”

The project which has a price tag of an estimated 1.8 million will involve the relocation of water and sewer lines that are located along West Elk Avenue in the area that TDOT will be doing a majority of its road reconstruction.

Water Resources and the city engineering department have been working with Mattern & Craig for almost a year now on the project, and Coetzee said that one of the factors that makes this project so tough is the unknowns.

“What makes this project unique is that we are uncertain about exactly where our lines are because they were not mapped,” said Coetzee. “We have a good idea of where they are because we have done a lot of work, expecting we may find some pieces of infrastructure that we don’t even know is there.”

According to Coetzee, there could be short water outages. During the construction of new water lines, old lines will be kept active. It will be, however, during the changing over to the new lines, which usually takes place at night,  that outages could take place, said Coetzee. TDOT must give a 72-hour notice to the city if water outages are expected to take place.

During its February meeting last week, the Elizabethton City Council approved a contract with TDOT for the project. TDOT will pay directly for construction costs while the city must pay upfront $69,061.95 for engineering with those costs being reimbursed back to the city by TDOT. The city, however, will be responsible for inspection cost on the project.

The construction that involves the relocation of city utilities will not be done by the city or its workers but a construction company chosen by TDOT. The bid letting for the complete project of road reconstruction and moving of water utilities is set for August and will be done by TDOT. Construction will not take place until after the bidding process is complete.