HAMLET — An infrastructure repair project should be completed and a major road reopened within the next 20 hours.
City Manager Jonathan Blanton said Wednesday afternoon that crews from Frank Horne Construction out of Fairbluff were finishing up paving N.C. 177 after repairing a sewer line.
The road has been closed since Monday morning when work began and was originally anticipated to reopen in 24 hours.
However, Blanton said the weight of the equipment caused a water line above the problematic sewer line to rupture.
He said if the road doesn’t reopen Wednesday, it should be passable by midday Thursday.
This is the second time in three weeks that line has been worked on.
A man working for another contractor was caught in a cave-in on March 21 while repairs were being made to the collapsed sewer line.
Blanton said since then, another piece of the line broke, leading to the current road closure.
A 2017 report from the Lumber River Council of Governments showed the city’s water assets are more than 60 years old, according to minutes from the February City Council meeting. The estimated cost of replacing Hamlet’s aging infrastructure at $19 million over 20 years.
