Fort Madison has gone back to the drawing board on a multi-million dollar sewer project.
The city wants to run a line from the western city limits along Highway 61 for around 10 miles. The idea is to possibly pick up some new industrial clients, in particular Siemens.
City Manager Byron Smith said the project is on hold, though, because the lone bid for the $3-million line was rejected when it came in at $4.5-million.
He said the high bid resulted from the depth of the line in some areas compared to water tables and some soil work near Siemens.
"So we have restructured and redesigned a little bit to get around some of those problems," said Smith, "and hopefully we will get back into the right price range.”
Smith said the sewer line should go back out for bid in the next few days. The hope is that construction will begin this spring with work wrapping up before the end of the year.
Smith says the federal government has granted the city an extension on a $1.5-million grant to help pay for the project.
Lee County plans to connect its jail to the new sewer line once it is complete.
