What's the construction on Riverside in east end - The Cincinnati Enquirer

What's the construction on Riverside in east end

A 120-year old pipe gave way, flooding Cincinnati homes. Now help is on the way
Patricia Gallagher Newberry

Water workers are returning to Riverside Drive in the East End with a $6.1 million solution for a damaged water main.

Greater Cincinnati Water Works on Monday is set to launch a year-long project to replace a nearly half-mile-long section of a water main stretching from Collins Avenue to Lumber Street on Riverside.

That's where a water main – with a 60-inch diameter – broke twice in early 2021. The incidents, one of the most disruptive in recent years for water customers, left a sizeable sinkhole on Riverside at Bayou Street and flooded area homes and businesses.

Water Works removed about 10 feet of the main after the first break. It left what was damaged in the second incident, filling it with gravel and valving it off, according to Jason Fleming, superintendent of Water Works' distribution division. After that, a back-up main provided service to the lower part of Downtown.

Water Works engineers originally thought they could repair the Riverside main, according to Kevin Osborne, who handles public engagement and government relations for the utility.

They opted instead to replace the section in a three-phase project, Osborne said:

- Over the next month, workers will determine whether they need to relocate utilities and storm sewers. Traffic on Riverside will not be interrupted.
- Next spring, when weather allows, Water Works will install new distribution lines – 12-inch pipes that move water from the main line to homes and businesses. Traffic will be maintained during that three-month stage, with a pause in work during weekday morning and evening rush hours.
- Replacement of the 60-inch main section will come after that. Traffic will be blocked during that three-month process, with access to local homes and businesses and signs pointing to detour routes for other vehicles. That part of Riverside will then be repaved.

Water Works officials met with community councils in the East End, Mount Adams and Columbia Tusculum in late summer to alert them to the project.

"Everyone wants to know more," said Steve Johns, vice president of the East End group. "We've got a little bit of PTSD from the break of a few years ago."

The council will share updates on its website and in its newsletter, Johns said.

For its part, Water Works will do "everything we can to get the word out,” Osborne said.

During the 2021 break, Water Works employed similar outreach. The utility ended up spending more than $240,000 for repairs of seven properties, on top of covering hotel rooms for residents whose homes were flooded.

The rusted and busted pipe piece from the incident now sits in the yard of the Greater Cincinnati Water Works pumping station at 2545 Riverside Drive. A shard from that pipe, also rusted, sits nearby.

The pipe gave way in "a classic case of structural failure," Fleming said, given it was made of cast iron installed 120 years ago.

The replacement going in now will be made of concrete.