RWRA plans to have part of West 5th Street paved and completed before the Owensboro Dust Bowl starts at the end of the month — but only the section between Maple and Orchard streets.
RWRA Director of Engineering Garrett Gordon said the nearly $8 million project is almost complete. He said the portion of road in front of Kendall-Perkins Park should be free of all construction vehicles by the time the tournament starts on July 21.
“So the contractor is almost done with their underground pipeline work. Once they complete that, they will begin street rehab,” Gordon said.
Once they complete the project between Maple and Orchard, RWRA will continue working throughout 5th Street.
The project involves separating the sanitary and stormwater sewer systems. Gordon said there used to be a lot of flooding in that area, and the project is designed to alleviate that issue.
In addition, he said it will lead to less of the sanitary sewer system overflowing into the river during heavy rain events.
According to Gordon, the system that was previously in place was constructed 100 years ago.
“That piping is currently underneath several homes and businesses. A 100-year-old brick pipe that’s 15 feet underneath a home or a business is just a bad idea,” he said. “So it’s also getting that pipe to be safe-loaded, so the chance of that pipe collapsing in the future and potentially sucking in a house or business or anything like that would be mitigated as well.”
