In anticipation of an upcoming repaving project, the Columbus Light and Water Department just finished replacing water valves on Main Street.
“Most of (the valves) are 80 to 100 years old,” said Mike Stacy, the distribution and collection supervisor at the Light and Water Department. “We get accused when they asphalt the street that we come through and tear it up the next day, so we”re doing preventative maintenance and just trying to change them out so we won”t have any problems later on and have to tear up the street.”
The seven-man crew has been systematically digging through the road and fixing a total of 15 water mains from 13th Street to Third Street and replaced the final valve just Wednesday night. They also replaced various fire hydrants. Between now and the time a crew comes to repave the road, the Light and Water Department will carry out various customer service projects for businesses along Main Street.
“We”re going to be replacing their water lines,” Stacy said. “They”re galvanized , and they”re fairly old, too, so we”re going to try and replace them with some new copper ones.”
The department closed one lane on each road while work was underway, and traffic is generally expected to slow substantially.
Stacy estimated cost of the project as $60,000 to $80,000.
In the immediate future, the department plans to upgrade the water line at Seventh Avenue near Helen”s Kitchen.
Crews with Falcon Construction Co. are working to pave Main Street/Highway 182 from the Alabama state line to Plymouth Road, with work near the Luxapalilla Bridge.
Crews are remilling and placing about 1.5 inches of asphalt on 10 miles of road. The project, which is paid for with American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds, likely will be completed by mid-October.
In March, the state awarded a $3.4 million contract to pave Highway 182 and $2.91 million to replace two bridges on Highway 182 near the West Bank Port.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
