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Workers lay sewer pipe in a trench on Forest Grove Road |
BY FRANK DELANO
"Messy" was the word Blake Franklin used last week to describe the expansion of a sewer system in Westmoreland County.
Messy, as in Franklin's mud-caked crews pumping water from muddier trenches to lay 10-inch sewer mains beside Albrough Boulevard and Forest Grove Road in Placid Bay Estates.
Messy, as in the snow that covered the ground and delayed the beginning of the work for three weeks.
"We're trying now to find places dry enough to work," said Franklin, owner of Franklin Mechanical Contractors of Kilmarnock.
In October, the company won bids totaling $6.2 million to install more than 28 miles of pipe to serve Washington District communities south of Mattox Creek.
"We're going to be here for a year and a half," Franklin said.
Which might not please Lori McKuen of Forest Grove Road.
"The contractors are just creating havoc. They're piling up dirt, leaving heavy equipment in yards, tearing up asphalt and concrete driveways, impeding access and slowing down school buses," McKuen said.
She said she was worried about possible damage to her $7,000 fence.
"Lucky for her, we're not going to be anywhere near her fence," Franklin said.
"We're working in the Virginia Department of Transportation right-of-way. When we have to trench across an entrance, we'll do everything to put it back like it was, maybe even better than it was," he said.
Installation of the big pipes creates the biggest mess, he said.
"The smaller pipes will create less mess. We'll bore most of those and the residents will hardly notice we did it."
The sewer work will occur in Placid Bay, Ebb Tide Beach, Berkley Beach, Oak Grove and other communities. Residents can go online to resourceintl.com to find out when the sewer lines--and perhaps the mess--is headed their way.
Frank Delano: 804/761-4300
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com
