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INTERSECTION NO PROBLEM FOR SOAP BOX PARTICIPANTS - Kenmore sewer project will pause for Soap Box Derby; could be complete by end of July

The intersection of William Street and Kenmore Avenue in Fredericksburg will be cleared, paved and ready for racers in Saturday's Soap Box Derby, but that cleanup won't mark the end of work and traffic disruptions in the area.

The intersection will close again after the Derby for more work, which could last another two weeks.

If all goes well, city officials are offering a best-case estimate that the work on the entire Kenmore corridor, stretching from Lafayette Boulevard to Sylvania Avenue, could wrap up by the end of July.

Public Works Director Doug Fawcett and W.C. Spratt President Doug Tait updated City Council members Tuesday on the sewer replacement work that has been going on along Kenmore Avenue since September.

W.C. Spratt entered a public-private partnership with Fredericksburg a few years ago to perform this and four other sewer and water projects around town.

The total cost of all of that work is $10.4 million, and this is the last project in that contract.

Both Fawcett and Tait apologized for the traffic disruptions and other headaches the work has caused those who live, work and travel through the city.

"I understand it is very serious and it is very disruptive, but I want everybody to understand, we want just as much as you want us out of there, to get out of there," Tait said.

The project has taken a lot longer than expected. This winter's heavy snows didn't help, but the biggest cause of delay has been the unknown condition and location of the network of sanitary and stormwater sewer, gas and other utility lines that run under Kenmore Avenue.

The objective of this project is to replace the sanitary sewer line--portions of which date to the 1930s--under Kenmore Avenue.

As they have put shovels in the ground to get at the lines, Spratt's crews have discovered plenty of surprises, all of which add to the project's schedule.

Fawcett said the contractor has repaired stormwater lines and rebuilt the surrounding soil where it found leaks.

Another major obstacle is the giant stormwater "flume"--a box-shaped conduit big enough to drive a car through--that runs under Kenmore.

Where the sanitary sewer lines are in relation to this conduit isn't always well-documented, and Spratt's workers have often had to pause and re-strategize to work around what they find underground.