Q A water main broke on West 15th Avenue a couple of months ago. The street was torn out and nothing else was done, even though the weather was pleasant. Fifteenth Avenue is a high-traffic area. When is the repair going to be made?
A “Whenever we can get a break in the weather, and right now that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen real soon,” Public Works Director Ron Childers said during the recent cold spell.
Childers said that the initial main break on West 15th Avenue, east of Chestnut Street, had been complicated by a crack in the main.
“That repair was scheduled shortly after the first break, and then we had another leak to the north end of that, so we had to re-excavate,” he said. “After that was put back in, the weather then started turning bad.”
Concrete should not be poured when the temperature is below 32 degrees or the ground is frozen.
“If it gets up to 45 (degrees) and the ground is still frozen, you can’t put concrete on frozen ground,” Childers said.
When the repairs are done, a decision will be made whether to limit the street to one-way traffic and repair half the street at a time, or to close the street completely and detour traffic to allow the full repair to be made at once, he said.
Childers mentioned that the water-flow situation in the area will be better than originally believed. Because a major turn-off valve could not be located during the first break, it was feared that water service would have to be turned off to Newman Regional Health and dental offices south of the break and as far west as Prairie Street.
“We got lucky and found the other valve when we had that second leak,” Childers said.
i_am_the_batman (anonymous) says...
It's a miracle, I saw them fixing this road this morning! The weather has been nice for a while now and they are finally getting around to it. High Five Emporia! The Batman has spoken.
March 27, 2007 at 1:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )