Sewer Project to Put Red Light on Greenways

Crews will begin ripping up sections of the city's greenway system next spring to get to deteriorating sewer lines underneath, said Kenny Waldroup, a construction projects administrator in Raleigh's Department of Public Utilities.

"There's no doubt that there's going to be some greenways closures," Waldroup said.

The sewer lines were installed in low-lying, undeveloped areas in the 1950s, and the greenways were laid out over the same areas in the 1970s, he said. Replacing the sewer lines will require closing sections of the greenways for months at a time so the paths can be torn up and rebuilt.

Work will stretch from the Milburnie Road area along the bank of Crabtree Creek to Glenwood Avenue near Crabtree Valley Mall. The project will be done in four phases, moving east to west upstream, and is expected to last four to five years.

Businesses that have old sewer lines on their property will also be affected, Waldroup said.

Joggers and walkers that use the greenways daily said they will have to find new routes for their routines.

"There's not much mud. We like the scenery also," jogger Bob Jones said Thursday while exercising on the greenway. "I'll have to find somewhere else to run."

"I'm completely sympathetic, but it's important to the city to maintain basic city services, (and) sanitary services is one of those services," Waldroup said.