The paving crew finished the last leg of the trouble-plagued Water Street sewer project a day early Thursday afternoon, deftly avoiding the omen of opening the street to traffic on Friday the 13th.
Water Street is now fully open to traffic.
After four years of starts, stops, buildings damaged and business lost, Northern Construction has replaced the last 70 feet of sewer pipe for the project and left the site.
“We are thrilled the work was completed before the Thanksgiving parade,” said Plymouth Department of Public Works Director William Coyle.
While the road is now open and businesses there are breathing a collective sigh of relief, the sewage is not yet flowing in the new pipe. In December, the most recently installed section of pipe will be lined with a plastic resin to prevent corrosion. After that one-day process, the town will “pull the plug” and let the sewage flow down the new pipe, Coyle said.
The ill-fated project began in 2022 to replace an aging quarter-mile section of 30-inch sewer pipe installed in 1969 that runs under the edge of the harbor adjacent to Water Street. Town officials were concerned a break in the old line would be an environmental disaster for the waterfront.
The sewer project was beset by a series of problems from the beginning, prompting infighting and finger-pointing. Work began in December 2022 and was supposed to be finished by the end of June 2023. But in March 2023, during the first phase of excavation, groundwater problems, shifting soils, and damage to the street, sidewalks, and five buildings on Water and Chilton streets forced a shutdown of the project.
One building was damaged so badly that it had to be razed. The owners of the affected buildings are suing both the town and Northern Construction, seeking more than $5 million in damages.
For the final plot twist, a sinkhole, which was quickly repaired, and questions of settlement at the visitors center on Water Street stalled the project this fall.
“We hope this achieves, finally, a permanent fix,” said William Burke, an attorney for Mamma Mia’s and Ziggy’s, the owners of the damaged buildings. “Time will tell.”
The lawsuit continues, with depositions and discovery expected to begin soon, Burke said.
The old sewer pipe under the harbor will remain in place as an emergency backup, Coyle said. And sometime next year, the entire stretch of Water Street disrupted by construction will get a finish layer of asphalt, with sidewalk and curbing repairs as needed. “We will work around the tourist season,” Coyle said.
Michael Cohen can be reached at michael@plymouthindependent.org.