The drainage sewer project in the area of Intervale and Abbey roads was originally due to be completed in September, but water mains are still on the side of some roads, and the project isn’t expected to be complete until sometime this January, a police official said.
By Halloween, the pipes need to be in the ground, off-site or “made safe,” town officials have told the contractor, Grasso Construction of Norwalk — or the Darien Department of Public Works will move them at the contractor’s expense so that they don’t pose a hazard to trick-or-treating children, according to Darien Police Capt. Donald Anderson.
The view down Stanley Road, south of its intersection with Devon Road, late Wednesday afternoon.
“The people who live there have just suffered so much,” said J. Paul Johnson, chairman of the Darien Police Commission at its meeting Wednesday. “The whole thing, in my mind, has just been mishandled, either by the contractor or others.”
The area of the project includes all or part of Intervale, Abbey, Devon, Stanley roads, Holmes Avenue and Rose Lane, all within blocks of the Stamford border and south of Middlesex Road.
Anderson said that at a meeting with the contractor last week: “[Town Public Works Director] Ed Gentile and I were very firm with the contractor that we were not happy with the safety aspect. […] The contractor has agreed to not take delivery of additional pipes causing more pipe to be out for hundreds of feet of pipe on the side of the road.
“Of special concern was Halloween,” he continued. “If that is not properly made safe for Halloween, the DPW is going to be hauling that stuff out there to make Halloween safe and back billing the contractor.”
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This isn’t the first big problem with the project — and not nearly the biggest one.
See also:
- UPDATE: Restoration of Natural Gas Service Started at 11:45 AM in Intervale Road Area (Jan. 6)
- Public Works Director: Natural Gas Line Hit by Machine Digging — Against Regulations (Jan. 11)
- Town Officials Review the Recent Natural Gas Leak Emergency, More Details Come Out (Jan. 21)
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“It’s frustrating for us folks who live in the neighborhood,” Johnson said. “And especially for the folks whose summer has been ruined.”
With the last of the pipes now expected to be installed in January, Anderson said, only temporary paving patches can be used on the roads, so permanent paving will have to wait until warmer weather in the spring of 2017.
“Ed [Gentile] and [Assistant Public Works Director] Darren Oustafine are on the contractor to keep this moving and as safe as possible,” Anderson said.
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