An old, clay sewer line has collapsed along 4th Avenue near the railroad tracks in Washington. At the recent City Council meeting, City Administrator Brent Hinson shared the state of the sewer line, “Basically, what it is is we’ve got a clay line that runs along 4th, basically terminates there at the 4th Avenue bar. And then that’s where the egg [sewer] picks up, that’s where the egg starts. That clay line is in terrible shape. And actually when (crews) were televising it this year, they thought they were getting it cleaned out so they could televise it and see what was happening. And essentially the line just collapsed. Really, we’re going to have a situation where we’re going to need to pursue a change order as part of the North 4th project, more than likely, to bore a new casing under the railroad tracks.”

Hinson said it could “endanger the railroad tracks” and city staff has been in communication with the railroad officials. He said to expedite the repairs, the best option is for the council to consider a change order to the 4th Street project instead of bidding out and creating a new project. The council will review options in future meetings. No price estimate was given.