Middlesex County sewer work continues

The sewer system for Cooks Corner is under construction, but the future of sewer in Middlesex is uncertain due to rising costs.

Cooks Corner was chosen as the first place to install sewer when a major revitalization was planned for the area around the current Middlesex County Public School Board offices. The plan was backed by state grant money for a restaurant, brewery pub and moving a historic building across General Puller Highway (Route 33). The plan dissolved during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, crews from Tidewater Utility Construction Inc. of Suffolk laid sewer lines that will connect to the planned apartments and school board and Middlesex Social Services offices.

The Cooks Corner sewer section has been funded at $4.6 million by the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors, which in November 2022 mortgaged the Middlesex County Historic Courthouse, the Woodward Office Building, and the Kidd Building, all of which are being used as collateral for a 25-year loan at a rate of 2.95%.

Rising costs

However, the future of sewer in Middlesex is uncertain due to rising construction costs.

On Jan. 5, Jeremiah Burford of HRSD told supervisors that construction costs have increased dramatically following the downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic 30-inch pipe could be laid in the ground for $300 to $500 a foot. Now the cost is $850 a foot, about $4.4 million per mile, he said.

HRSD will pay for the forced main that was originally estimated at $31 million about five years ago.

In October 2023 the estimated cost rose to $52 million — about $3 million a mile. The 17-mile forced main could cost HRSD $75 million if Burford’s most recent estimate is correct.

HRSD will open bids for the Middlesex forced main on March 15.