Lake Oswego sewer line gears up for its next big step

Preparations begin for the lake-down portion of project

By Cliff Newell

The Lake Oswego Review, Feb 25, 2010

JANE HEISLER / City of Lake Oswego

A huge S-shaped pipe is towed for installation on Oswego Lake. The LOIS project has made great strides, but even greater work lies ahead.

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It has been “so far, so good” for Lake Oswego’s $100 million LOIS project.

Now preparations are starting for the crucial “lake-down” phase of the project in which Oswego Lake will be drained in order to complete work on the city’s new sewage system.

“The lake-full phase is wrapping up. We can see the light at the end of the pipe,” said Jane Heisler, communications director for the Lake Oswego Interceptor Sewer Project. “We used $33 million of our budget as of Feb. 1.”

Heisler and project director Joel Komarek, city engineer for the city of Lake Oswego, are gratified by the rate of progress on LOIS, which was given official recognition by Mayor Jack Hoffman in his state-of-the-city speech earlier this month. Hoffman expressed confidence that the giant project would be finished on time and “considerably under budget.”

However, the next part of LOIS will be trickier as city staff members and contractors prepare for the lake-down stage. Contracting bids for the work will open on March 4, with the bid set to be awarded by the city council on March 16.

“The lake-down phase will be like a choreographed ballet,” Komarek said. “There will be so many things going on. We’ll have to keep the existing system operating while demolishing parts of it.

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