DeKalb County’s Department of Watershed Management has opened another sewer replacement project this week in Decatur, on East College Avenue between New Street and Sams Street. The work is night only, from 9 p.m.-5 a.m. and lasts through Sept. 19 weather permitting.
The city advises that motorists and MARTA passengers who use East College should expect delays and plan for extra commuting time since lanes will be variously closed.
DeKalb’s Watershed Management has undertaken several sewer-related projects in Decatur the last several years as part of a consent decree signed by the county, Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division, and the federal Environmental Protection Division in 2011. The decree requires the county to clean, repair, enlarge and maintain its sanitary sewer pipes in “priority areas” to reduce sewer overflow.
Some of those Decatur projects include Hood Circle, near Oakhurst Park, completed earlier this year and previously one of the county’s worst spill sites. There’s also been considerable work on Second Avenue and the area surrounding the Green Street PATH linking McDonough Street with Candler Road.
Green Street, a popular cyclist/runner cut-through, dives into a significant flood plain and has had nearly as many spills in the past decade as Hood Circle. Work began back in March but Decatur’s Deputy City Manager, Hugh Saxon, said this week it should wrap soon.
“The reconstruction of that area may go through to the end of the year,” Saxon said. “But the sewer work should finish in four to six weeks and the [PATH] should open soon.”
