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Weekend power surge and water-main breaks prompt repairs; city coordinates paving and road rebuilds
Summary
City crews responded to a power surge at a booster station that caused multiple water-main breaks; staff reported repairs and outlined coordinated paving and road-rebuild work including Seavers Road and Eleventh Street main replacements.
City public-works staff told the Board of Public Works that a power surge at the 39 North booster station Friday night damaged variable-frequency drives, burned pumps and contributed to a deep main break near the Knoll Complex and a subsequent break at Plain and Rumley.
A public-works representative described the sequence: “Friday night around 06:30, we… had a power surge through our, 39 North booster station that took out all the VFDs inside there. And from them surging on and off … it burned the pumps up which creates some water hammer and the pipe out there and we did have a leak.”
Staff said crews located and repaired the leaks after searching overnight and the weekend; the department reported no customer-service interruptions. The water department also reported work complete on Seavers Road (intermediate layer laid) and said surface paving will follow when contractors schedule the work.
Officials said coordinated scheduling will allow the city to replace mains when streets are rebuilt. For example, a total rebuild is planned on Eleventh Street between F and Hanley; staff noted several main breaks there over the last decade and said the city will replace the water main while the street is reconstructed.
Public-works staff also told the board they have begun the fire-training center project (pipe recently delivered) and that Seavers Road is now open to through traffic with short, single-lane closures for paving work. The board discussed truck access and signage concerns and said detours have been removed where paving is complete.
Separately, board members discussed the role of the wheel tax in funding paving. Staff said the wheel tax provides over half of the city’s street-funding for paving and that without it the city could not fund substantial resurfacing. One board member noted that with only the wheel tax the city “maybe would make it to South Street” on a long corridor like Michigan Street, underscoring limits to current paving budgets.
Board members thanked crews for their weekend work and noted close coordination among water, wastewater and engineering divisions.
