Prairie Street between 12th and 15th may not reopen for a few days yet.
City Manager Trey Cocking the failure of a 20-inch line led to a “major, major leak” last week. That break damaged a lot of “subgrade” material under the street.
Unplanned waterline replacements were needed on Prairie near Park on the Fourth of July and on Prairie near 18th early July 5. Initial repairs are done near 18th and traffic can work around that cutout zone. Cocking says the cast-iron pipe that failed was installed in 1928.
That unplanned work was needed while work nears the end on the West 12th waterline between Chestnut and Grand this month — and as final-phase work continues on West Sixth between Lincoln and Woodland near the end of the month. Cocking says the city is working to upgrade its underground utilities after a massive water main failure near 15th and Prairie in 2017.
Cocking says the permit process is lengthy, in part because of a roughly three-month review process by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for every document. He also says it’s a deliberate slowdown to protect the public water supply.
