ESCANABA — Motorists out for a drive to see the scenery on Water Plant Road will soon be out of luck. The road will be closed for the foreseeable future beginning this week.

The closure comes as the city is about to begin the process of constructing water plant upgrades at the site. Starting this week, dewatering wells will be installed to drop the water table low enough for concrete to be poured for new tanks at the plant. To install the wells, pipe that is eight- to ten-inches in diameter will need to run across the road to move water away from the site.

Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Lampi asked the city council Thursday if it was the council’s desire to close the road this week or create some sort of temporary structure, either above or below ground, to allow traffic to continue traveling on the road.

“There’s a $7,500 option to keep it open for the next four months or we can save $7,500 and close the road that’s going to be closed regardless around April,” he said.

The council floated a number of ideas about how the pipe could be routed or modified to allow for the road to stay open, but ultimately, all options would come at added costs and most would be at risk of damage during winter snow plowing. A plan to close only one half of the road was also discussed but was determined to be impractical because cars would be unable to turn around at the point if the parking spaces were full.

“I’ve asked a lot of department heads; I’ve asked a lot of people, and there is a no win situation here,” said Lampi.

Between 100 and 200 cars travel the loop daily.

While the Escanaba Public Safety Department and the city’s engineering department still needs to be consulted about the closure to determine the best way to route traffic, Lampi expects that both the Delta County Historical Society Museum parking lot and the harbor parking lot could still be accessible without interfering with dewatering.

It is expected the road would be able to reopen in about a year and a half. The exact timeline for the road’s reopening is dependent on the construction project and the availability of materials.

Pedestrian traffic will not be affected by the closure, as the pipe will be run under the sidewalk.

Also Thursday, the council approved a $1,055,995 contingency (10%) of the $9,783,000 water treatment plant project for work by Staab Construction. The contingency was erroneously left off the project’s initial request for approval from the council.

“Approving these funds isn’t money that’s automatically being giving to the contractor, said Melissa Becotte, city controller. “Some of these monies will likely be spent — hopefully not all of the monies — it’s just for those contingencies that come up during the course of construction.”

Any use of the contingency funds for change orders would need to be approved by the council, Lampi, and the state agencies responsible for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) that are funding the project.