CRESTVIEW — At first glance, a patched spot on Territory Lane looks like any other filled-in pothole. Not like a $34,000 repair project the City Council unanimously approved on Monday.
But that’s just on the surface.
Thirteen feet underground, more than 350 feet of 24-inch diameter drain pipe has failed, causing storm water to undermine the Fox Valley development street, and threatening other buried utilities.
“What happened, we think, is last year through all the rain and flooding events … the water and static friction is tearing away layers of it,” Public Services Director Wayne Steele said. “Not only that — it caused separation of the pipes and joints."
Fox Valley’s developer laid the fiber and concrete composite HardiePipe about 10 years ago. Steele said video inspection revealed the damage.
To excavate and replace the pipe would require about 370 feet of Territory Street to be closed and torn up, blocking residents from their homes for several days, Steele said.
Instead, Steele recommended to the City Council that a contractor insert a cured-in-place liner inside the pipe's damaged sections, which would provide “a solid end-to-end seal of the failed pipe.”
After insertion into the damaged pipe, the liner is steam-cured, or hardened, melding it to the original shape of the damaged HardiePipe.
Because the pipe failed after a decade of use, Councilwoman Robyn Helt expressed concern that there may be other HardiePipe lines that might also fail. But Steele said the city rarely uses the pipe due to its high cost and maintenance.
“We should be evaluating materials the developer chooses to put in," Helt said. "This is material a developer put in but now the taxpayer has to pay to fix.”
Helt and Councilman Mickey Rytman asked Steele to see if the manufacturer had a warranty on the pipe to help offset Pensacola Concrete Construction’s winning $34,077 bid for the repair.
The money comes from the Street Department’s materials budget, leaving a balance of $63,026 for the rest of the fiscal year.
Work is expected to begin next week.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Failed Crestview drain pipe requires $34,000 sinkhole remedy