While unplanned water main repairs have dominated our newscasts for most of the past week, a planned replacement project is set to begin very soon.
City officials are set to begin early stages of work on the Peyton Street improvement project, which will connect the East 12th Avenue water tower eventually to the Industrial Park 3 water tower near South and Carter.
The work zone will go from 12th along Topeka to Peyton before going south to Sixth. The line between Sixth and South will be skipped because of prior work, with construction resuming on South from Peyton to Carter. City officials are advising East 12th will have lane shifts and a drop of the center turn lane, while Peyton and South will have one-way traffic around the immediate construction zones. Work should finish next spring.
The city already has several water-related projects either underway or coming within the next three years:
*The city shut down the East 12th water tower earlier this month for maintenance and painting. By Thanksgiving, the tower will have a totally-new paint scheme, taking on an Emporia State University motif through a 10-year, $75,000 partnership with the university.
*The 24th Avenue waterline replacement project, which will replace the transmission lane and other nearby lines from the Water Treatment Plant east to 24th and south on Prairie to 12th, could begin either late this year or early next year.
*The Southeast Emporia waterline replacement project, which will go from 12th and Garfield to the Industrial Park 3 water tower, could see construction beginning in 2025.
Short-term and looping back to water main breaks that started Tuesday, City Manager Trey Cocking says Prairie between 12th and 15th and West at 15th will both remain closed through the weekend due to the excavation work needed to fix pipe failures at both locations. Street restoration work should take place during the upcoming work week.
