By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Director Gerald Haney updated the utilities commission about the cast iron water pipe replacement currently underway in downtown Grayson at the commission’s regularly scheduled June meeting. Haney provided the commission with maps which highlighted the week-by-week progress on the project, and reported that the project was still running ahead of schedule.
“About half of Landsdowne Avenue is now complete,” Haney told the commission. “The main line is installed through the Shady Lane entrance. There is no water on part of that line yet, but that will be in the next phase. They will continue down Landsdowne to College, then the last segment will be the block from Second back to main Street where they will have to cross US 60.”
Haney pointed out that the construction company had not patched the road yet where there was no water put on the pipe and the pipe tested. The reason, he explained, was so the road didn’t need to be torn up again if they found issues when testing the pipe.
“There are still a few areas that remain to be blacktop patched,” Haney told the commission, and said the pipe testing was the reason that part had not been completed.
“Pomeroy, Fourth Street, and Third from Pomeroy to Carol Malone is all operating on the new water line,” Haney told the commission. “They made the final two tie-ins by Main Street and Pomeroy by the First Church of Christ. They are making great progress. And, if you’ll notice, there are a bunch of fire hydrants that have black plastic bags over them. This is because they are out of service or will no longer be in service.”
Eliminating the old hydrants was a major side benefit to the iron water pipe replacement project. The new hydrants will manage water flow much better and improve the efficiency of the city’s fire department when they respond to fires. The new pipe and the new hydrants will not necessarily increase the water pressure on the lines, but the flow will be much improved over the older pipes that have built up sediments inside, functionally decreasing the inner diameter of the pipes carrying that water.
Haney told the commission that he had been presented with the second pay request from Opell Excavating, the company responsible for the project, in the amount of $237,812.28. The commission voted to pay the second pay request.
After asking if any commissioners had questions about the project, Haney pointed out that he had received questions concerning blue pipe in various areas of the project.
“I got questioned yesterday about the little, small blue pipes sticking up,” Haney told the commission.
“Those are the pigtails indicating the customers new service that will be hooked up,” he explained. “It’s basically a marker indicating that they have already made that tap and it’s ready to go. Once the line gets charged with water and the test comes back good and clean, those people will be connected to the line. Their old meter will come out and be replaced.”
The project is progressing to the point where the final stages, such as cleanup, will become more noticeable, Haney said.
Haney attributed at least part of the success of the project to the machine used by Opell Excavating to trench. The machine is capable of digging through multiple layers of asphalt and concrete, eliminating the need for workers to use special saws to first cut through those materials, then that material needing to be pulled up by other equipment.
“That rock trencher is essentially cutting through the blacktop and getting the trench to the depth of the new pipe. And Landsdowne has concrete under it,” Haney pointed out. “There are places where it is going through four to six inches of asphalt and then another ten inches of concrete.”
The project is currently ahead of schedule and is slated to be completed by the end of August 2025.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
