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NEWS
Sinkhole shifts ground, plans
Contratcors dig up a sewer line Tuesday, July 29, 2008, at Harris Riverfront Park. The collapsed line, which caused a massive sinkhole at the riverfront has forced Ribfest organizers to make adjustments to the event.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON — Two collapsed sewer lines have turned a large portion of Harris Riverfront Park into an excavation site.
Repairing the lines, however, is not expected to dramatically alter the park’s two largest annual events, although some events are being relocated to other areas of the park.
| Map of sinkhole |
Construction crews have spent the last six weeks unearthing the sewer lines and searching for the collapsed sections of pipe. The excavation site is located in the grassy field between the 10th and 12th street entrances to the park. The playground had to be dismantled make room for the work.
A 42-inch-wide brick sewer line was replaced with a 48-inch wide concrete pipe, said Bruce Fox, executive director of the Huntington Sanitary Board. The brick line was about 100 years old.
Crews now are repairing a 12-inch, cast-iron line that is more than 50 years old.
So far, the project has progressed slowly, Fox said, because the line is approximately 30 feet deep, and backwater from the Ohio River sometimes gets into the massive hole that was created because of the work.
As of two weeks ago, the repairs had cost the Sanitary Board approximately $130,000, Fox said.
“We can’t really give a firm date for when the project will be completed until we know how much new sewer line it will take to fix it,” he said.
That has forced organizers of Ribfest to alter how their four-day event is staged this year. Ribfest is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 7, through Sunday, Aug. 10.
In previous years, rib vendors and the concert stage were set up in the field where the excavation site is now. This year, all food vendors will be on the western end of the park, while music acts will perform on the floating stage in front of the amphitheater, said A.J. Boleski, general manager of Big Sandy Superstore Arena. The arena coordinates Ribfest and all other events at the riverfront.
What’s left of the field will be used for a car and motorcycle show and inflatables for kids. Boleski said he is looking forward to the new setup because it separates food vendors from the seating area for music acts.
In previous years, people who came to watch musical performers spilled into the lines of people waiting to order ribs, he said.
“This gives us a chance to look at a different layout that we wouldn’t have otherwise used,” Boleski said.
X-Fest, the daylong hard rock festival set for Saturday, Sept. 6, also will remain at the riverfront regardless of whether the sewer repair project is completed, said Judy Cornett, vice president and market manager for Clear Channel Communications.
Festival tickets go on sale Thursday for online registered users of the Web site for WAMX- FM, X106.3. Tickets for the general public go on sale Friday.
“This is something that people expect to mosh pit and crowd surf at,” Cornett said. “If you move it indoors, it’s just a concert. Put it outside and it’s an event.”
If the sewer repair project is not finished before X-Fest rolls into town, Cornett said she is prepared to move the stage to the western end of the park. The stage traditionally has been in the field between the 10th and 12th Street entrances.
X-Fest will only be moved to the Big Sandy Superstore Arena if there is inclement weather, she said.
“It would take a lot for us to move X-Fest,” Cornett said. “It’s something fans wait for and plan trips around. It also generates quite a bit of revenue for (SMG, the company that manages the arena and coordinates all events at the riverfront) and ultimately, the city.”
