New valve to ensure water service to airport area businesses

John Howell
Posted 10/23/14

For nearly 20 years, the city’s water division has “held its breath” that it wouldn’t have to shut down a main line serving many of the businesses and hotels on Post Road in the vicinity of …

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New valve to ensure water service to airport area businesses

Posted

For nearly 20 years, the city’s water division has “held its breath” that it wouldn’t have to shut down a main line serving many of the businesses and hotels on Post Road in the vicinity of the airport.

Now, with City Council approval of a $179,900 contract with Boyle & Fogarty Construction of Smithfield, the division will replace a defective valve, which has been locked in the open position for two decades. Division director Daniel O’Rourke said yesterday he plans for the work to be done as soon as possible.

The work will require a trench about 10 feet wide and 40 feet long near the intersection of the northbound lane of Post Road and Airport Road. O’Rourke expects the job to be completed in several days and shouldn’t seriously interrupt traffic flow.

“It’s important,” O’Rourke said of the line that services most of the businesses extending as far north as Lincoln Avenue. The line is also part of the system providing water to T.F. Green Airport.

Installation of the new valve will be accomplished without interrupting service, he said, with the introduction of “stop valves” on either side of the new valve, thereby isolating that section of the line.

In addition to the work being done by Boyle & Fogarty, division crews will “terminate” a line that extends into the safety area of the crosswind runway. The runway is closed while contractors work on an extension of the safety area to the east.

O’Rourke said the division knew it would need to replace the Post Road valve but postponed the work until plans at the airport were finalized. One of the initial airport plans called for a relocation of the Post and Airport Road intersection to the north.

Without a new valve, O’Rourke said the division would have had to shut off service to a number of hotels and area businesses had there been a break in the line.

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