The Metropolitan District Commission has also replaced a portion of a sewer pipe at the intersection of Linbrook Road and North Main Street in West Hartford.

The Metropolitan District Commission has replaced a portion of the sewer pipe on Linbrook Road near the intersection with North Main Street. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

By Ronni Newton

There are lane closures at the North Main Street bridge in the area of Linbrook and Wyndwood roads, but the roadwork has nothing to do with the recently rebuilt bridge or the road diet, but rather is an Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) project that will be relatively short in duration.

Nearly four years ago a 27-inch sanitary sewer pipe on Linbrook Road failed, causing a back-up that flooded the street and lawns of more than two dozen homes with as much as 30 inches of sewage water, and left 5 or 6 feet of sewage water in several basements.

A bypass of the pipe was immediately put into place, and within weeks the MDC’s contractor had installed a replacement liner in the pipe. The MDC has been actively monitoring the condition of the pipes in the area, and recently while checking noticed that a different portion of the system has started to fail, Construction Manager Jeff Passardi said.

The MDC’s contractor, VMS Construction, recently installed a new bypass, and then dug up and replaced a portion of the sanitary sewer pipe on Linbrook Road, near the intersection of North Main Street. They are in the process of replacing all of the liner in the area as a preventative measure, including the portion that had been replaced in 2018, Passardi told We-Ha.com.

A bypass has been in place while the MDC replaces the sewer pipe on Linbrook Road near North Main Street. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

“We will be redoing the whole thing as a precaution, with another technology we’ve been using for a long time,” he said. The technology that had been used, but had failed, is not being used again. The material that failed was not less expensive to begin with but rather was just an alternative – but not one that will be used going forward, he said.

A total of 2,000 feet of pipe is being lined.

The liners must be custom-ordered which lengthens the duration of the project, Passardi said, but they are expected to be completely installed by the week of Sept. 19, and then milling and repaving will follow. The MDC will be responsible for that work.

The MDC has replaced a portion of the sewer pipe on Linbrook Road near the intersection with North Main Street and is relining other area pipes. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

“The town recently repaved this section of North Main Street,” Assistant Town Engineer Jim Brennan said. “As such, MDC will be milling and paving the section of road they will disturb during the installation of the new sewer pipe.”

Passardi said he hopes the project – which has required the narrowing of North Main Street to one travel lane in each direction without the center lane, the closure of Linbrook to through traffic between Montclair and North Main, and the narrowing of Wyndwood –  will be complete by the middle of October. “We are trying to push it as fast as we can,” he said.

Some work will continue on Wyndwood Road, Passardi said, but those details are still being finalized in collaboration with the town.

The Metropolitan District Commission has replaced a portion of the sewer pipe on Linbrook Road near the intersection with North Main Street. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

The MDC has replaced a portion of the sewer pipe on Linbrook Road near the intersection with North Main Street and is relining other area pipes. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

The Metropolitan District Commission has replaced a portion of the sewer pipe on Linbrook Road near the intersection with North Main Street. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

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