Council approves contract to contain underground creek
SALEM – After being closed for almost a year, that closed block of South Broad Street could be open before hot weather is gone.
One lane of the street next to Brooks-Byrd Pharmacy between Main and Calhoun streets – and the sidewalk on the east side of the street – has been closed since August 2009 because a creek that runs underneath the street undermined a retaining wall.
Salem City Council approved a contract to fix the retaining wall containing an underground creek that has closed one lane of South Broad Street for a year. Photo by Meg Hibbert
At its April 12 meeting, Salem City Council approved a $126,000 contract with Alleghany Construction to fix the problem. There is money in the 2009-2010 City of Salem Budget for those repairs, Salem Assistant City Manager Jay Taliaferro pointed out.
That’s the city’s share. You see, part of the crumbling underground wall is on the city right of way, and part of the affected area belongs to the building that houses Brooks-Byrd. The pharmacy building is owned by the Snyder Foundation that owns Snyder Nursing Home.
The two-party responsibility and need to work out arrangements is what took so long to get the work ready to be bid, City Manager Kevin Boggess explained.
City Engineer Chuck Van Allman said he planned to put out the notices this week that are necessary to start work.
“Part of the building will be jacked up, and people will have to use the back door while that’s going on,” Taliaferro explained, adding that the front of Brooks-Byrd shouldn’t have to be closed off more than seven days, once construction gets to that point. “I don’t believe the store will have to be closed.”
“They’ll have to take the glass out of the windows and cover it with plywood,” added Boggess.
Until the hole was opened up, many people didn’t realize the creek that also runs behind Salem City Hall runs underneath South Broad.
Some Salem people at first believed roots of the trees planted against the pharmacy had undermined the foundation. Others said there was an underground creek. It turns out the second theory was the right one. The trees, which were up against the exterior wall, were cut down.
Earlier this year, representatives of Mattern & Craig, the Roanoke engineering firm the City of Salem hired to look into the problem, said culvert had been built over the creek and street about 40 years ago or so, and the masonry began to settle.
Meanwhile, the retaining wall is being shored up with struts, a city truck has been parked to block off the northbound lane, and the excavation has been closed off with heavy chain-link fencing and warning signs for months. Cars – and people – used the southbound lane and sidewalk. Anybody who wanted to drive north to Main Street had to detour a block or so to the east or west.
One lane of South Broad will be kept open at all times during the construction, Boggess said.
