NEWPORT BEACH : Coast Highway Sewer Line to Be Replaced

No matter what, the decrepit sewer line nine feet beneath Coast Highway will have to be torn out and replaced this year.

The pipe, which carries raw sewage from about 25% of the homes and businesses in Newport Beach and a portion of Costa Mesa, was built during the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration, said Tom Dawes, who as director of engineering at the Orange County Sanitation Districts has been involved in planning this project since 1981.

The 56-year-old pipeline running through the heart of the city has become a constant threat to leak a stinky mess onto Coast Highway. Dawes said crews have done emergency repairs in the past to keep the line from becoming blocked.

The eight-month, $4-million project calls for crews to dig a deep trench along the highway from about 59th Street to Dover Drive. The trench will disrupt some of the business on the city thoroughfare, officials concede.

“With a project of this magnitude, there will be disruptions in traffic, there will be noise and it will disturb people,” said Don Webb, city engineer.

“With a tough economic situation in an area that is tough to lease, this is going to be a big burden,” said Stephan Sutherland, chairman of the Mariner’s Mile Assn., which represents businesses and property owners along the commercial strip. “At the same time, everything I have been able to see (indicates) that this is a necessity.”

Sanitation officials hope to finish before the California Department of Transportation begins scheduled resurfacing on the highway in 1994.

“It is a crummy old sewer line,” Dawes said. “Our plan is to replace this thing before a failure occurs. We don’t think anything will happen tomorrow, but we know we have to replace it soon.

“It is time to replace it, but no matter how we do it, it will be noisy for people,” Dawes said. “We have already designed the replacement pipe and the next step to us is work out details with residents and businesses along Mariner’s Mile.”

Sanitation officials say they are willing to negotiate on what time of the night or day the work occurs so that residents can sleep and which season so that businesses can operate.

“We are not making final decisions until we have heard more from the community,” Webb said.

Dawes anticipates work could begin in the fall and be completed within eight months while allowing for interruption of work during the holiday season.

The sewer line is the last in a series of pipe replacements to be installed over the past decade or longer, Dawes said.

People who will be within earshot of the trench digging are encouraged to discuss the project with the district and Caltrans officials on March 10 at 7:30 a.m. in the City Council chambers.