Main Street Water Line Replacement To Begin Soon

 In Local News

The City of Newberry utilities department will soon begin their water line replacement project on Main Street.

Work is scheduled to begin February 1. However, Utility Director Tim Baker told council Tuesday that the community may begin to see contractors staging and doing preliminary boring to get ready for the replacement.

Last year, the department did multiple point repairs to the city’s sewer system along Main Street, followed by the Public Works department completing full depth patching of the road. However, this project involves moving the water line on Main Street to the right-of-way on the left-hand side of the street (coming from town towards Wilson Road).

This is the final step before the South Carolina Department of Transportation comes in to resurface Main Street, he said.

Baker told council that most of the fire hydrants along Main Street will be moved to the opposite side of the road so that they are closer to the new location of the water line. While this new line should be in excellent shape for many years to come, he said that should any future repairs be needed, the work may not require road closure.

“Our goal is to improve the infrastructure along Main Street while having the least amount of impact to residents,” he said.

While Baker said there was no ideal time for the work to be completed, they felt this time of year would be least impactful to businesses and visitors downtown. Most of the work will be completed during daytime hours.

Work will take place on Main Street between Kinard and Holman Streets, with an estimated completion date of the spring, prior to SCDOT resurfacing the road. While DOT is resurfacing Main Street up through the Nance Street intersection, Baker said the cost and timing did not work for that to be added to the scope of the water line replacement project.

Main Street utility customers should soon be receiving letters from the city’s utilities department informing them of the project. Baker said the city has asked their contractor to communicate with customers if they’ll need to block driveways. They’ve been asked to communicate via door hangers or knocking on doors.

“Should a crew member knock or ring your doorbell please answer if you are comfortable doing so, as they may have information they need to share with you,” he said.

Crew members should be identified by uniform or ID and have been asked to maintain social distancing if interacting with customers. Baker said should any utility customers have questions about the identity of someone contacting them, to call the office at 803-321-1018.

“I understand that everyone on Main Street has had a tremendous amount of patience, and we really appreciate that,” Baker said. “Main Street will have great infrastructure once the work is completed.”

Updates on the project will also be communicated through the City of Newberry’s social media channels.