By Amanda Raymond
amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — A portion of North Main Street will continue to be closed this week as the North Carolina Department of Transportation replaces an old storm drain pipeline under the road.

A contractor for NCDOT closed the 800 block of North Main Street on Aug. 8 and planned to have the road closed for two weeks, according to an email from Frank Thomason, chief of Emergency Services for Rowan County.

The construction crews are working to take out old storm drain pipeline to replace it with new piping.

“The work is necessary to adequately maintain and handle storm drainage runoff at this location on North Main Street,” Thomason said in the email.

The work was scheduled to finish this week, but Chris Corriher, district engineer at the Department of Transportation, said crews ran into some problems.

Corriher said some of the piping had collapsed, leading to sink holes on the side of the road, and crews were unsure of where the drainage went as they dug up the pipe. They realized they needed to put in more piping than originally planned.

Corriher said it takes time to get the compaction correct since the piping is so deep in the ground, and crews wanted to be able to do the job correctly so that the piping will last.

Crews hope to have the road back open by Monday, weather permitting.

The signed detour route is East 12^th Street to Richard Street to North Lee Street to East Cemetery Street.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.