What to do? How to get around pipe replacement in Somerset Borough?

Oct 07, 2023

SOMERSET – Nowadays, driving in the borough can be challenging. One day everyone has to move to the left or right lane and then search for an alley to move out of the traffic. The next day that lane is closed and the alley that worked the day before is no longer viable.

What to do?

The good news: The inconvenience is temporary.

The bad news: "Temporary" runs through construction season for this year and next.

The good news: Often the borough gets 24-hour notice of just where the digging and replacing will occur. Somerset County workers then put a hanging notice on the door handles of all the residents living in those blocks, along with neighboring businesses and churches.

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The bad news: Sometimes the timing is off and the contractors have to work a longer or shorter time in those areas.

The good news: All the ripped-up areas will be restored.

The bad news: Some will not be able to be permanently restored until the projects end.

Think of a convergence of a gas company's crews replacing main gas lines and the borough's contractor's crews replacing main water lines sometimes in the same area, sometimes not within Somerset Borough.

On any given day, about 100,000 vehicles go through the town, according to police Chief Randy Cox, based on a study using PennDOT's interactive traffic map. "This conservatively represents a peak number of 51,000 people who have come into the borough on a daily basis. This number comes from estimating one person per vehicle," he said.

To put it in perspective, Somerset has a population of 6,048 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census.

The Daily American sat down with the borough manager and her administrative assistant to discuss the traffic flow problem.

Basically, no one likes construction. It is inconvenient.

Roger Bailey, who has been with the borough for nearly 30 years and is now administrative assistant to the borough manager Michele Enos, said he updates what is happening with the water and gas projects on the borough's Facebook page as much as he can. He informs those pulling up the page where the contractors on the water project will be and where Columbia Gas is replacing its main lines. The gas company has been working on a replacement project in the borough for about two years.

But now that both the water and gas crews are working on main thoroughfares through town rather than quieter neighborhoods as the gas company mainly has done up to this point, it leads to the crews being more visible and the traffic more congested.

"One day they (the borough's contractor and the gas company crews) will be there and the next day they will be somewhere else (not planned)," Enos said.

The reasons vary.

"One day they will have a crew, the next day they won't and another day they will have three crews," Bailey said.

"What the contractor is doing is if he has a crew that is shut down in another town and give them work he will move them here and set them up to do a job for that day," he said. "So, it is kinda tough."

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What this means is often a scramble to help diminish any traffic jam in the work areas.

"There is so much going on everywhere," Enos said. "It is a moving target" to try to figure out specifically what crew will be working on what street.

One thing is true: both water and gas crews do not work on the weekend.

The water pipeline being replaced is about 40 to 50 years. The borough did a study to find out where the water line had the most problems and that portion of the pipeline now is being replaced by this project.

It took three years of work between the borough's administration, council and municipal authority to get the project rolling.

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The $20 million water project, performed by Kukurin Contracting Inc. of Export, is being financed through PennVEST at 1% interest for the next 20 years. About 25% of the project is being paid for by grants, Enos said. That leaves the loan at $14,595,231 which must be paid by the borough. For the residents, it means $2 to $3 they have to pay monthly on an average water bill.

The water crews are placing the new pipeline beside the old pipeline. Once it is done, the pipeline will be charged, otherwise filled with water to check for any possible leaks, and then disinfected so it will be safe for consumers. Once down the old pipeline will be disconnected and the new pipeline will be connected, Bailey said.

First done is the main line and then the crews will return to that section and connect the laterals where the water from the main line flows into residents and businesses, Enos said.

Next, is a permanent restoration that often includes new sidewalks and newly paved roadways, she said.

The best news: In the end, the community and visitors will benefit from the improvements, Enos said. In the meantime, the borough administration will try to help and answer any questions, she said.