Downtown gets new sewer line
A new sewer line floating along the downtown waterfront should begin to disappear from sight today.
Workers planned to sink the 4,440-foot-long, high-density polyethylene main today, according to city Public Works Director Joe Buck.
The new line will run along the waterfront from the wastewater pump station across the street from Centennial Hall to the Juneau-Douglas Treatment Plant on Thane Road.
"Last night they were working on the final alignment," he said. "They set buoys in the channel and at noon they'll let the air out and put it into exact position."
The new line replaces an underground, cast-iron line along Egan Drive and South Franklin Street that has leaked three times in the past five months, Buck said.
Workers repaired a break in the line in front of Centennial Hall about two weeks ago, he said.
The new line should be ready for use in the next four to six weeks, Buck said.
"It will be underwater and out of sight and out of the way of the cruise ships in a zone where they don't anchor at all," he said.
The project cost is about $2 million. Miller Construction is the contractor; the designer is Tetra Tech/KCM.