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Rehoboth outfall street paving pushed beyond Memorial Day

City Manager Sharon Lynn expects project to be completed by end of June
May 22, 2018

Story Location:
Rehoboth, DE 19971
United States

Memorial Day is just around the corner, and Henlopen Avenue and Canal Street will not be paved when it arrives.

Rehoboth City Manager Sharon Lynn said the city is meeting with contractors soon to review a completed paving schedule.

"I know it's been a major headache," said Lynn. "The residents' patience has been admirable. The city is certainly mindful of completing construction on those two streets and will do its best to restore the road as soon as it can."

Other than delays repaving Henlopen Avenue and Canal Street, Lynn said she was optimistic about the overall progress of the project. She said the ocean outfall project is expected to be completed by the end of June. During a Rehoboth commissioners meeting May 18, Lynn said she expected paving on Henlopen Avenue to start Tuesday, May 29, with Canal Street after that.

Lynn said the ocean outfall portion is about 95 percent complete, and will meet the May 23 deadline. She said all that's left to be done is dune restoration and planting of vegetation.

Lynn said there's about 130 linear feet of the 24-inch force main left to get in the ground stretching from Canal Street to Grove Park, underneath Rehoboth Avenue.

In light of a recent study showing that after a big rain event, Rehoboth's stormwater outfalls are releasing extremely high levels of enterococcus bacteria into the town's ocean water immediately offshore, Lynn assured that the soon-to-be-completed wastewater outfall will be heavily tested before it's put in use.

Monitoring and updating, as currently in place, will continue, Lynn said.

Lynn said the $43.1 million project continues to be on budget, but that could change if three high-cost claims are accepted. Coming in at nearly $3 million, those claims include $1.1 million associated with ground conditions other than expected, $890,000 associated with weather delays, and $800,000 associated with damage to the diffuser at the ocean end of the project.

Those claims are still being evaluated, and it will take several more weeks before a decision is made, Lynn said.

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