Expect blasting this week from Pump House Road project

Work began in June on repairs to a road failure on Pump House Road – located just west of the Boulevard Bridge in Byrd Park — and this week there is expected to be some blasting to allow for new piping to be placed.

Pump House Road has been closed since mid-December 2010 due to a failure of the roadway from a damaged and washed out storm sewer. The main access to Pump House Park is from the closed roadway. It is a low-traffic road and has not been high on the priority list for the DPU. It was originally expected to be closed until at least March, according to the DPU.

Contractor Corman Construction Inc. will be installing a tunnel boring machine receiving pit to remove rock at the Byrd Park Pumping Station, which will require some blasting, according to Mariane Jorgenson of the Department of Public Utilities.

“The days and hours of the blasting keep changing,” she said. “[It is] unknown if it will be Wednesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday.”

Blasting will be anywhere from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., although not continually. “The noise is supposed to be ‘distant’ for the homeowners in the area,” Jorgenson said.

The roadway is scheduled to be reopened by August, according to the Department of Public Utilities.