A strip of Whiteland Road currently filled with gravel will soon be repaved, following work on a sewer line break earlier this summer.
Whiteland Road in front of Whiteland Community High School, and parts of the high school parking lot, closed for about a week in June for the town to repair an unexpected sewer line failure in the middle of the road.
For safety reasons, the entire road was closed because of the extent of the deterioration of the sewer line under the road, said Jim Lowhorn, town manager. He added he knew the closure and the current state of the road was “not the most popular decision” among residents.
“As we ventured further into the sewer line, we found that there was additional issues with the sewer lines that needed to be addressed,” Lowhorn said. “Knowing that there was a huge void there, I could not allow traffic to continue to travel on it until it was addressed.”
Whiteland Road opened back up mid-June, and for months — as a temporary fix while work continued on the sewer line — a strip of road that was cut was filled with gravel to allow drivers to travel over it. Caution signs were placed to warn drivers to slow down, as the road dips significantly on that strip.
Crews regularly fill the spot with gravel, however, the amount of traffic depletes it within an hour or two, Lowhorn said.
That part of the road will soon be paved over within the next seven to 14 days, he said. The town approved a contract in August with CASE Construction to repave all areas that were cut for the sewer line repair on Whiteland Road and the high school parking lot. This will complete the entire project, Lowhorn said.
The repaving is expected to cost around $60,000. In its entirety, the sewer line repair cost the town around $190,000. All the work on the sewer was done in-house by town employees, which saved the town thousands, Lowhorn said. Hiring an outside contractor could have cost nearly half a million dollars, he said.
Whiteland Road will remain open during the repaving, with crews directing traffic around the work. The contractor will also work with the high school to schedule repaving in the front parking lot.
