Not your average road repair

Getting around Valley Stream by the Village Green has been a bit more difficult these past two months, with Valley Stream Boulevard closed between Hicks Street and Payan Avenue. However village officials say once construction is complete, the road will be much safer for drivers and pedestrians.

A culvert, which carried a stream under Valley Stream Boulevard and into the Village Green, became so deteriorated that it needed to be replaced, Mayor Ed Fare said during a visit to the construction site two weeks ago. The village borrowed $2 million for the project, which is expected to continue through the summer.

“I’m glad we got to it before it collapsed,” Fare said. “It really went south on us in the last year.”

Right now, there is a giant hole in the road, just east of Payan Avenue, where the road and culvert used to be. A metal pipe carries water from the stream under the construction site. There is also a giant contraption of about 40 small pipes, “like straws,” Fare said, which are being used to remove groundwater.

In order to set the concrete for the new culvert, groundwater needs to be removed as far down as 17 feet below the surface. Naturally, groundwater is only about five feet down in that area of Valley Stream. Once the removal process is complete, workers can begin laying the foundation. The new culvert, which is being constructed off site, will then be trucked in and put into place.

Project engineer Ken Pritchard, from Dvirka and Bartelucci Consulting Engineers, said the culvert is still being built and should be ready to install in about two months. He said it is shaped like an “upsidedown U.”

To prepare for the project, a weight limit was imposed over the culvert in the final months before construction. Electric lines had to be relocated so construction vehicles had ample space to work. Sewer and gas lines, as well as Verizon Fios wires, which ran through the old roadbed, also had to be moved.