Utilities Crews Deal With Pipe Collapse And Excavation

By Alex Haglund

“There was an emergency situation last week that Blaine had to jump in and handle,” Nashville City Councilman Doug Hargan told the rest of the council at their regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 19. City Utilities Superintendent Blaine Middleton detailed the surprise excavation and replacement of a collapsed sewer pipe on Huegely Rd. to the council.

After discovering the collapsed pipe on Friday, city crews bypassed it. On Saturday, Haier Plumbing, equipped for deeper excavations than city workers are came in to help replace the line.

“Working through Saturday night,” Middleton said, “we replaced 193-feet of it.”

Middleton also said that underneath the line they were replacing they had discovered a void five to six feet wide and 15-to-18 feet long.

“It’s kind of a blessing in disguise,” said Middleton regarding the discovery of the void beneath the sewer line. “This is the stuff that you see in the big cities where a car drives across the pavement and the car disappears. We have concrete trucks on the street, we have lumberyard trucks, we have semis.”

“I’ll have a cost as soon as I have a bill back from Haier,” Middleton told the council. “There will be future costs for Richard (Schuette, Nashville streets superintendent), because all that stuff that we put down, it’s going to sink.”

“I think with having to do that, it would give us a good idea of what it would cost to have to excavate all of the sewer lines to get them replaced,” said Mayor Ray Kolweier, “rather than repairing them or installing the liners or whatever.”

“Out of all of that,” said Hargan after hearing the story,” I would say job well done.”