OCEAN PINES — King Richard Road in Ocean Pines will be seeing some major work over the next few months, including the replacement of some water service lines, the installation of a six-inch diameter sewage force main and reconstruction and repaving.
Delays are expected though they should be kept minor, according to Worcester County Public Works.
The project began this month and doesn’t have a designated completion date yet. Public Works Deputy Director John Ross hopes to see everything finished before 2014.
“I’m hoping the whole thing is done by the end of the year,” he said. “Obviously, this time of the year you can’t count on the weather … Normally, historically, we’ve been able to construct pretty much through December and not have much of a problem with that. But you just never know.”
The first step in the process is already half completed, Ross continued. Worn-out water service lines responsible for leaks and damage around Ocean Pines are being replaced.
“This is not a major water line. This is a small, ¾-inch service line that goes into the individual house. Some of them are old and some of them are constructed of a material that they, frankly, don’t even sell any more because it was not durable enough for water service. And so, before we decide to repave the entire road, we’re going to replace those services,” Ross said.
A six-inch diameter sewage force main will then be installed connecting the Casino at Ocean Downs to the Ocean Pines Wastewater System.
“We’ll probably have the road well tore up by that time because even the equipment running up and down those roads tears them to pieces,” he said. “And once that’s done we can get the road repaved and it should be good.”
Delays are expected and could happen at any time during the day, since crews will be out from early morning until the afternoon. Public Works hopes to limit disruptions by having the projects run simultaneously. The goal is to maintain at least one active lane of traffic throughout the process.
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