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Detours delay sinkhole repair

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CHARLEROI – Excavation work will begin today to replace collapsed sewer pipes that are believed to be causing sinkholes along Route 88 in downtown Charleroi.

The work was delayed a day following confusion Tuesday as to who was responsible for placing detour route signs that will take some trucks across the Charleroi-Monessen Bridge and onto Interstate 70, Charleroi Borough Manager Donn Henderson said.

“Trucks should avoid that area for the next two weeks,” Henderson said Tuesday.

A number of sinkholes developed in May along Route 88 south, also known as Fallowfield Avenue, while crews were working on water lines under the road. The collapsing road and sidewalk curbs caused the state Department of Transportation to delay paving Route 88 in the downtown while the borough investigated and repaired the problem. The sinkhole problem is not as extensive on McKean Avenue.

The borough since awarded a $90,000 contract to R&B Contracting and Excavating of West Mifflin to unearth sections of Fallowfield and McKean to further investigate the cause of the sinkholes, Henderson said.

“We don’t know what we’re getting into,” he said. “A lot of the work is subject to what they find.”

Earlier this summer, another company sent cameras into the 100-year-old sewer lines and confirmed some of the lateral pipes from homes and businesses collapsed before they reached the main line to the wastewater treatment plant, Henderson said.

The property owners in the area were alerted to the possibility of receiving a $1,000 bill for replacing collapsed lines. The borough’s sewer maintenance and stormwater funds will pay for part of the cost of the project, Henderson said.

Fallowfield Avenue will be closed for one block today at Tenth Street, where the project will begin. Other closures along that street and McKean will take place as the excavation work proceeds.

“General traffic can get around the closures, but trucks are going to have a problem,” Henderson said.

The project could last longer than two weeks if the underground repairs turn out to be more extensive than expected, he said.

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