Lower Burrell to fix 2 partially collapsed sewer lines with $200K grant

A $200,000 state grant is helping the Lower Burrell Municipal Authority fix sections of two sewer lines that have partially collapsed.

One section is under the former JCPenney parking lot along Leechburg Road, while the other is along Wildlife Lodge Road near Leechburg Road.

“This is good news for the city,” said Todd Giammatteo, the city’s public works director. “If these lines would have been let go, there would have been a complete collapse, which would have been a nightmare with sewage back-ups for businesses and homes in the area.”

During the next two weeks, work crews will use a specialized line replacement process requiring much less digging to insert the two new lines, said authority Chairman Kevin Lettrich.

After a video inspection of the city’s sewer lines more than a year ago, crews identified a handful of sewer lines with breaks too substantial for just inserting a sleeve, Lettrich said.

The city applied for $500,000 in state grants to fix all of the breaks but received enough money, $200,000, to pay to fix two of the problematic sections of pipe. The one under the old JCPenney parking lot runs along a city-owned right of way.

“We’re taking care of the two worst sections of line now and will fix the others as we find the money,” he said.

A condition of the state Department of Community and Economic Development grant requires the city to pay about 20% of the project costs, he said.

Although sewage lines are expensive to repair, one positive aspect of the project is new machinery that allows a new line to be inserted in the ground, while crushing the existing line, Lettrich said. Only two holes have to dug at the entrance and exit points of the line replacement, he said.

“It’s the first time we have used such equipment, and it saves about 40% of what these projects typically cost, and it’s a lot quicker,” he said.