Detour to be lifted ... only to resume soon after
Two-way traffic is returning to Washington Avenue near the former sinkhole site, but not for long.
The detour that routes southbound traffic off of Washington Avenue at the corner of Linderman Avenue will be lifted this week due to the completion of underground work to remove grout from a sewer pipe.
But the relief for drivers will be only temporary. City Engineer Ralph Swenson said the detour will be back in place about five weeks from now, and last for about a month, so work can resume at the site, which was plagued by a sinkhole from 2011 to 2017.
Swenson said the removal of the detour later this week will once again allow traffic to move in both directions between Linderman Avenue and Donovan Place.
In June, though, traffic will be down to one direction again so that a new 200-foot liner for the sewer pipe can be installed. The existing liner, installed several years ago during the sinkhole repair, was damaged during the grouting process that was part of that repair.
The damage to the liner allowed grout to partly fill the sewer pipe and block the flow in a section of the city’s sanitary sewer system beneath Washington Avenue.
The city has been using a rented pump to bypass the blocked section of the system.
Arold Construction Co. of Kingston removed the grout, starting last August, after being the sole bidder for the project, and it also will install the new liner, according to Swenson. The engineer has said he believes the city has “sufficient funding in place” to pay for the new liner and its installation.
The city so far has borrowed about $2.5 million to pay for the grout removal and related expenses.
The total cost of sinkhole-related work on Washington Avenue now exceeds $10 million.
During the sinkhole repair, Washington Avenue was closed in both directions to all but local traffic from Linderman Avenue to Route 32, a span of five blocks.