(Breaking news) Collapsed sewer pipe shuts down intersection

Will block Main Street-Church Street for a month

Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010

Posted at 12:30 p.m. Thursday

A section of Church Street will be blocked off for more than a month beginning next week as contractors work to replace a section of collapsing sewer pipe near the street's Prince Frederick intersection with Main Street.

The section to be blocked will stretch from the intersection to Trinity Methodist Church, but access to the church or its parking lot will not be obstructed, county spokesman Mark Volland said.

The collapsing pipe was installed about 40 years ago and made with at-the-time state-of-the-art plastic material, Volland said. However, it became evident over time that the gases present in the sewer system corrode the top of the plastic piping, causing it to eventually collapse on itself.

The problem was discovered as public works staff was showing the pipe to contractors earlier this week — $225,000 was already budgeted from the water and sewer enterprise fund for the current fiscal year to reinforce the sewer piping along Church Street. That project is still planned but will come after the stretch of collapsing pipe is replaced with PVC piping.

The enterprise fund supports all water and sewer maintenance and capital projects through quarterly fees paid by county residents on water and sewer systems and tap fees for new construction. The county has several pockets of residents on water and sewer, from larger networks within the six town centers to select systems in smaller communities, Volland said.

Once the collapsing pipe was found, the county installed an emergency pump on Church Street and ran temporary piping from the intersection to the Prince Frederick Wastewater Treatment Plant. For the first few days, before the emergency fix could be completed, sewage was hauled out with septic trucks, Volland said.

The emergency replacement, which will begin Feb. 2 and is estimated to last until about March 9, will cost an additional $100,000 that will need to be drawn from somewhere other than the enterprise fund, Volland said. Since the replacement project was not in the fiscal budget, the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners will need to approve the funding and its source.

The replacement pipe will bypass the collapsing piping, which will be abandoned and sealed up with grout. Two new man holes on either side of the new piping will also be installed.

The county currently has a manhole providing access to the pipe at the intersection coned off and signs on both Church and Main Street redirecting traffic. The State Highway Administration will be placing similar signs along the northbound and southbound lanes of Route 2/4 and Route 231 just west of Prince Frederick, Volland said.

jnewman@somdnews.com