E. 12th St. water line work starts Monday
Residents in the area of North Lincoln and North Union avenues, and East 12th Street can expect some inconvenience at times after a water main replacement project begins Monday.
Salem Utilities Superintendent Don Weingart said the project to replace an existing 2-inch water main with a 6-inch water main on East 12th Street from North Union to North Lincoln is expected to be completed within 75 days.
He said he didn’t want residents surprised when they start seeing the equipment show up next week. East 12th Street is located in Perry Township, but the water line is owned by the city which also provides the water to residents.
As an infrastructure upgrade of the city water supply system, the project cost will be covered in its entirety by the Salem Utilities Department. Weingart noted that they’ll be installing two fire hydrants as part of the project. The street currently has no hydrants.
According to a press release issued Wednesday by the Utilities Department, “the contractor will attempt to maintain one lane of traffic. By nature of the project, there may be temporary closure of driveways while the installation of the water main continues. When the new water main is completed and tested, each customer’s water service will be connected to the new main.”
Weingart said the 2-inch line will remain in place and be disconnected from the system once the 6-inch line is installed and ready to go. He said if the water is off at all, it will just be off during the switch from one line to another. During construction, the water will remain on. After the project is finished, the street will be repaved from curb to curb. The city and Perry Township approved an agreement which outlined the promise to repave the street.
Craig Edward Susany Inc. of North Lima won the contract with a low bid of $112,517. Howells and Baird Inc. of Salem is serving as the design engineer and manager of the project.
The city Utilities Commission agreed to the infrastructure upgrade due to several leakage problems with the 2-inch line in the last several years. Weingart said they’ll be using plastic piping for this project.