Jefferson Avenue Water Main Construction to Begin

The City contracted with B&T Drainage of Marshall to do the work. The project will involve a few days of preparation work by the contractor to locate all of the utilities, which will involve cutting the pavement and hydro-excavating to expose the utility to get the precise location and depth.

Once the prep work is finished, the contractor will be cutting and excavating the pavement in various locations to directional bore the new water main. By directional boring, the amount of street and parking area disturbed by the construction should be greatly reduced. Directional boring allows the water main to be installed by tunneling under the pavement rather than open trench excavation. Even with the directional boring, though, there will need to be areas, especially at the intersections and water service taps, where an open trench will be required to connect the water mains and the water service lines.

There will be times when water service is interrupted and boil orders are issued. Every effort is promised to provide advance notice of any service interruptions or boil orders, but if the unexpected occurs, customers will be notified as soon as possible.

The City Engineering Department will make every effort to keep everyone up-to-date on the progress of the project. There will be driving lanes and parking lanes closed for periods of time, but the directional boring should reduce the amount of time involved.

B&T Drainage is on site today to begin work locating utilities. The progress of the work will be discussed and every effort will be made to provide an update every Friday for the work proposed the following week.

Greg Koester will be the City's project manager. For more information, phone or text Koester at 217-821-7731 or email gkoester@effinghamil.com.