Sewer work shuts street in Little Rock

Rodney Parham stretch closed until Monday

LITTLE ROCK — A $1.1 million project to replace a section of a 50-year-old sewer pipe will shut down a section of South Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock all weekend and require detours.

The section running between West Markham and Mississippi streets will close at 9 p.m. today and not reopen until 5:30 a.m. Monday. The route averages between 11,000 and 15,000 vehicles daily.

The stretch serves an apartment complex and a nursing home as well as allows access to an entrance ramp to Interstate 630 westbound.

Local traffic will be allowed to and from the apartment complex and nursing home, according to John Holloway, the director of engineering for the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority. Traffic also will be allowed to use the I-630 entrance ramp.

The agency has tried to give drivers a “heads up,” according to Holloway. Electronic message boards set up around the project limits have been warning drivers that the work will disrupt local travel.

“We’re trying to be proactive,” he said.

Detour signs also will be set up.

The project is part of a longtime effort by the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority to upgrade elements of the city’s 1,400-mile sewer system that serves 67,700 homes and businesses.

“We’re in the very latter stages of a $500 million program that we’ve been undertaking since the 2000s,” Holloway said. “We’re excited about … fulfilling our mission.”

The work involves replacing 600 feet of a 15-inch diameter pipe with one that is 18 inches in diameter that goes under the roadway. The pipe being replaced was installed in the early 1970s. It’s not only old but is at capacity, Holloway said.

The bigger pipe provides about 20% more capacity and will eliminate four overflow locations, where excessive infiltration of rain into the sewer system can cause backups and overflow manholes.

“Our mission is to protect health and the environment,” Holloway said. “This particular project addresses a number of overflows that occur in the area. The overflows pose that threat, if you will, to the health and the environment.”

At the beginning of the program, the authority had identified 339 overflow locations, Holloway said. That number has been reduced to about 30, he said.

The contractor is Diamond Construction Co. of North Little Rock.

A similar project is scheduled for next weekend on West Markham between Rodney Parham and Mississippi.