SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. — Hitesh Patel fears the inevitable quiet days in late September.
He envisions the noise emanating from the heavy equipment parked on Northern Boulevard, just outside of his Convenient Food Mart, and the bumper-to-bumper traffic. But he knows it will be quiet inside his store.
As part of a sewer interceptor upgrade project set to resume on Sept. 22, contractors will close the center turning lane and northbound lanes along stretches of Northern Boulevard. The work, which will be completed in two weeklong phases, will snarl traffic, inconvenience nearby businesses, and temporarily eliminate access to Mr. Patel’s store by Northern Boulevard.
“That’s 99 percent of our customers, and who knows, it could be like that for longer than a week,” said Mr. Patel, part-owner of the Convenient Food Mart at 330 Northern Boulevard. “About 800 to 900 people come in here every day. I’d be happy to get about 50 during this. It’s going to be a significant blow.”
Part of a $26.1 million sewer and wastewater treatment plant upgrade investment, the work involves installing 30-inch diameter sanitary sewer pipes and connecting them to the main sewer line. Doing so will reduce the possibility of sanitary sewer overflows, said David Weiss Jr., vice president of construction management practice at Gannett Fleming, the firm that designed plans for the project and is responsible for construction management.
During the first phase, contractors will close the center turning lane and two northbound lanes on Northern Boulevard from near Shady Lane Road to the southern end of South Abington Elementary School, he said.
Crews from Kriger Construction will then move to Northern Boulevard and Burcher Avenue, where they will dig about 16 feet to connect to an existing sewer line. During that work, contractors will close the center turning lane and northbound lanes from Layton Road to south of Burcher Avenue.
The location of the excavation work means drivers might not be able to access Burcher Avenue via Northern Boulevard, Mr. Weiss said. Officials plan to allow drivers access to Layton Road, which connects Northern Boulevard to Route 347, though plans must be approved by the state Department of Transportation.
Officials will maintain one lane of travel in each direction throughout construction.
“As long as it’s done within the time frame, it won’t be too bad for us,” said Christine Magnotta, owner of Creative Cakes & Desserts, at 323 Northern Boulevard. “We start getting a lot of holiday orders a couple weeks before Thanksgiving, so that’s when we get really busy.”
Mr. Weiss said they plan to propose adding flaggers to allow drivers to make some left-hand turns. As for access to Mr. Patel’s business, drivers will likely have take Scott Road to Robinson Street to Burcher Avenue and then enter through a side entrance.
“I understand the job needs to be done, and every one sympathizes with me, but that’s not going to pay the bills,” Mr. Patel said. “They should have kept us in mind when they did the drawings.”
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