LUSK – Lusk’s massive infrastructure project has officially begun, after a groundbreaking on Fifth Street, on Monday, June 28. The project includes water, sewer, streets, sidewalks and gutters.

“We have a failing infrastructure system, which a lot of towns in America do,” said Mayor Doug Lytle. “At some point it gets too expensive to fix the old, you might as well put in the new. We were getting to
that point.”

Lytle said this is the first of six phases. Each phase is broken down into smaller phases. Each phase will take about a year, according to Lytle, but they are hoping the project can be completed in five years.

Phase one is from Third Street to Eighth Street from Diamond Street to Pine Street. A map of the phases can be found by visiting www.townoflusk.org.

“We’re taking care of the older, more at-risk parts of town first,” he said. “Some of the lines are over a hundred years old, so it’s time.”

Fifth Street is the first priority, because it leads to the Niobrara County High School.  Lytle said the street should be completed by September 1 this year.

The town has been preparing and planning for the project for about three years. Lytle said funding has been secured from the State Revolving Loan Fund, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a one percent specific use sales tax. Lytle said Lusk has $18 million in one percent tax for the project.

“We didn’t get a whole lot of negative,” Lytle said. “People understood what was happening with it.”

This winter, the town had two water mains break. Lytle said once community members saw what was happening, most understood that the project was necessary.

Lytle said the head engineers are from AVI Engineering. About eight different subcontractors will also spend time on the project.

“Pretty much everything is going to look new,” said Daniel Bebo, project engineer representative.

Along with replacing existing material, several sidewalks will be added for safety. Fiber optics will be placed in every other street according to Lytle.

The project team will start meeting weekly with residents in the construction areas, so they know what to expect.

Houses will not lose water use during construction, according to Lytle. Because the water meters will be turned off, the town will absorb that cost.

The new water lines will be PVC, which has a 60-year life span. Lytle said the previous pipes were clay, which typically have a 50-year life span. Lusk’s pipes lasted well beyond that, some for 100 years.