WESTBROOK — Two sewer projects in the works may tie up traffic in the city in coming weeks.

The City Council on Monday awarded a $4.5 million bid to Gorham Sand and Gravel to do sewer overflow abatement projects along New Gorham Road by Fairlawn Avenue and in the neighborhood off Spring Street that includes sections of Maple, Union and Roosevelt streets and McKinley Avenue. RJ Grondin and Sons bid $4.7 million and Shaw Brothers Construction came in with a $5.5 million bid.

Gorham Sand and Gravel Project Manager Steve Stuart said June 5 the project will start as soon as a traffic plan can be developed with the city and contracts are signed. As of now, New Gorham Road is expected to be reduced to one lane for five days, as will Longfellow Road.

The projects are aimed at updating the system and replacing old sewer lines that handled both wastewater and stormwater runoff. The city has been working to update the lines area by area over the years. The sewer work will be coupled with work the Portland Water District has planned in those areas.

“When we do major sewer improvement projects, we work with the (Portland) Water District, so we only have to open a road once for construction,” City Administrator Jerre Bryant told councilors at their first reading on the topic May 21.

The project will be funded through sewer user fees, not property tax, and the Portland Water District will reimburse the city the cost of the water district work.

“We manage it as one project and the water district pays for the total cost assigned to them,” Bryant said.

Bryant said the work is part of the city’s ongoing obligation, under the Federal Clean Water Act and conditions contained in our Waste Water Discharge Permit, to “systematically reduce and eventually eliminate all points of combined sewer overflows in our sewer system.”

At the council’s first reading May 21, Councilor Victor Chau asked what the implications were if the work was not done.

Director of Public Services Eric Dudley said if the city did nothing, a fine could be imposed.

“It’s good to keep your infrastructure maintained and up to date. This is a request of the federal Clean Waters act,” he said.

Michael Kelley can be reached at 781-3661 x 125 or [email protected] or on Twitter @mkelleynews.