Jefferson Bumps Due To Leaks; Replacement Project Begins Soon

Some $1 million worth of parts are in and work on the Jefferson Avenue water line replacement project is expected to start mid-April.

Water and Sewer Department Director Barry Turner said the parts took time to secure, but materials arrived quickly compared to some other post-pandemic projects. He said contractors plan to replace lines from the courthouse to the interstate and the first 3,000 feet of the project are already staked out.

“A lot of the patches on South Jefferson, not all of them, but a lot of them up there are due to water leaks,” Turner said. “With our line being located outside of the pavement, future water leaks should not impact the pavement, so it should be a better riding surface.”

Turner said the contractor’s portion of this water line project may be finished before T-DOT has finalized plans to repave the street, so it is hard to tell exactly when Jefferson Avenue will look brand new. He said drivers can expect periodic lane closures and the temporary closure of some side streets, but two-way traffic should be fine.

“As they say, progress is painful,” Turner said. “So you’re right, there will be some times where it will disrupt traffic and, hopefully, everyone will just bear with us and we can get it done without too many issues.”

He said contractors are operating on a one-year contract time, but he believes the job will be done quicker than that. He said getting the enormous load of pipes on hand has accounted for some of the wait time, but valves have been the items that have faced the longest delay.

“We’ll keep TDOT informed but, you know, they’ve sort of got their schedule too,” Turner said.