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Sandy Lane Sewer Line Project Poses Many Hurdles

[CREDIT: DPW] A map of the detour around sewer repairs going on along Sandy Lane.
pipe and gravel waits for the next week of work to begin on Sandy Lane Monday.

WARWICK, RI — DPW crews began the week restoring a manhole at the corner of Sandy Lane and Armory Street Monday, the latest task in their weeks-long project to repair a nearby collapsed sewer line.

For the first few weeks, said Janine Burke-Wells, executive director of the WSA, Department of Public Works crews were attempting to do the repair work with the traffic still going along Sandy Lane, which slowed them down too much.

Since the city established the detour around the work, however, Burke-Wells said, the crews have been able to work much faster. 

That hasn’t been the only complication, said DPW Director Mat Solitro. Getting the equipment to the site was a complication in itself. The big 374 CAT excavator they have working on the site for the job had to be trucked in to the site suing two 18-wheelers in separate pieces, he said. 

Also, Solitro said, the crews have had to work around water, sewer, gas and telecommunications lines during the work. At the current location in the project, at the corner of Sandy Lane and Armory Street, all of the utilities are where they’re trying to work. 

“It’s been one thing after another,” Burke-Wells said.

Now, with traffic no longer hampering their progress, the work should be finished within the next two weeks, Burke-Wells said.

[CREDIT: Janine Burke-Wells] A section of sewer pipe is lifted out of the road along Sandy Lane.
[CREDIT: Janine Burke-Wells] Men work at the bottom of a deep trench along Sandy Lane.
[CREDIT: Rob Borkowski] An excavator works on a trench along Sandy Lane Monday.
[CREDIT: Rob Borkowski] Portable pumps are being used to bypass utility lines around the work being done to fix collapsed sewer line on Sandy Lane.
Rob Borkowski
Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

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