traffic

By Ralph Schwartz

City officials in Ferndale have been watching two sinkholes on Main Street growing (shrinking?) for several months. Now they’re ready to go in and fix them, convinced that they are done settling.

Work begins Friday, Sept. 28. Here’s Ferndale’s statement on the repairs:

Ferndale to Make Minor Repairs to Main Street Roadway

Ferndale drivers are urged to use caution and note traffic revisions as the City works over several weeks to repair depressions in two parts of Main Street.

The roadway repairs, which begin Friday, September 28, are likely to occur in various stages as crew availability and weather permits. The work comes after about a year of tracking the condition of the roadway to ensure that depressions on Main Street had nearly or fully settled.

One depression occurred near the entrance to City Hall due to a sewer line failure during roadway improvements in 2011. The City had already made an emergency repair to that sewer line and have been waiting for the area to fully settle. Another is near the intersection of Hamlin Avenue and Main Street and it is not clear what is causing the depression, though it is near an existing utility line.

Now that it has been confirmed little to no change is still occurring in the road, the City can make the necessary repairs. On Friday crews will saw cut the roadway for prep work. Crews will then grind the old asphalt, in preparation for the City’s Public Works crew to remove it and repair the subgrade below the roadway. Once that work is completed, the areas will be repaved.

Traffic revisions will be implemented while crews work in the roadway, but Main Street will remain open. Work is expected to be finished sometime in October.