An emergency construction project to repair a broken sewer pipe neared its one-month anniversary this week. 

The work to repair the broken pipe, which is located about 20 feet underneath the intersection of Middle Highway and Legion Way, has presented crews with a variety of obstacles, and motorists with an inconvenient detour. Officials have closed the section of Middle Highway between Nayatt Road and Maple Avenue, and stationed police details and DPW workers to man the detour 24 hours a day. 

“I’m frustrated. I want this project done,” said Barrington Department of Public Works Director Alan Corvi, during an interview on Monday, Sept. 9. “But it’s difficult excavation — we’re almost 20 feet deep.”

The depth of the work, coupled with a handful of unexpected challenges, have extended the project longer than officials anticipated. During an earlier interview, Corvi said he expected the final section of pipe to be replaced last week. That was before workers encountered a large steel plate buried underground.

“We hit an unknown steel plate,” Corvi said this week. “We’re going to have to use a torch to cut through it.”

Corvi said he was cautiously optimistic that crews would be able to cut through the inch-thick steel plate and then replace the final section of sewer pipe by the end of the day on Tuesday. Then workers would need another day or two cover over the excavation site, allowing for Middle Highway to be re-opened. Corvi cautioned that a 60-foot section of road would be covered only with gravel and would eventually need to be resurfaced with asphalt. 

“I expected challenges at this location,” Corvi said. “But I didn’t anticipate all the obstacles that we’ve encountered.

“When we were digging we found a water main that had a hole in it. It was possibly leaking water. It definitely had a hole in it.”

Corvi would not say if the leaking Bristol County Water Authority water main played a role in the broken sewer pipe. He added that town officials met with representatives from the BCWA at the site on Friday, Sept. 6. 

“We’re just beginning talks with the water authority,” Corvi said. 

The DPW Director said he did not have an estimated cost for the project, but confirmed that it was “definitely in the six-figure range.” In the meantime, the town has a sewer enterprise account and there is a reserve amount of money that should “hopefully be able to cover it,” Corvi said. 

Overnight details 

For about a week, the town has been paying for overnight monitoring of the project. The town has had police details stationed at the detour, and has also paid DPW employees to keep watch during the overnight hours. 

Corvi said it was important to monitor the site, as it could pose a danger to people walking or riding their bikes down Middle Highway in the off-hours. He said DPW workers were getting paid time-and-a-half for the details.

Noticed a dip 

Officials from the Barrington Department of Public Works closed the southern end of Middle Highway from Nayatt Road to the intersection with Maple Avenue in August, after noticing that the road was dipping near the intersection with Legion Way.

“It got real bad this year,” Corvi said during an earlier interview.

DPW workers investigated the situation and discovered that some water and silt were infiltrating the sewer pipe in that area. Corvi said the sewage was not leaking out, as the 15-inch pipe carries only a few inches of sewage regularly.

Barrington hired the contractor CB Utility to complete the emergency sewer line repair.

As of last August, workers had completed about 150 feet of the 210-foot section of pipeline that was scheduled to be replaced. The project faced a slight challenge recently when crews encountered two water lines. It was later discovered that one of the water lines had a hole in it. 

Corvi said crews must “de-water” or pump out when doing work, as the groundwater in that area runs quite high.

Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey praised the efforts of the local public works department.

“DPW Director Alan Corvi and his team have worked incredibly hard with the town’s contractor to fix the sewer line while minimizing any impacts on the public,” Hervey wrote in a statement to the Barrington Times. “Because Public Works has been monitoring this sewer line for years, an even bigger problem was averted, avoiding any disruption in the sewer system for this part of town.

“This emergency repair is an example of why it was necessary to increase capacity within DPW with the addition of funding in this year’s budget for a new assistant superintendent, whose role includes supervision of the sewer division.”