Flume work underway as businesses cope

Workers shore up Shelbyville's underground stormwater flume Thursday to prepare for diggin to begin. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Order this photo]

Workers started cutting into sections of North Main Street and Cannon Boulevard this morning to replace about 200 feet of the city's underground stormwater flume that collapsed -- for the second time in its history -- last month.

Meanwhile, businesses in the impacted area are having to cope with the loss of traffic to their storefronts, and downtown Shelbyville traffic remains backed up along side roads.

Process begun

Public Works director Mark Clanton said Thursday that the work of shoring up both ends of the damaged flume is close to completion and his crew will be busy today and Saturday "digging it all out," with work continuing all next week until the pipe is ready to be laid in the ground.

The shoring-up work under North Cannon Boulevard is already done, which required no digging -- workers simply approached the area from underground, while digging had to be done next to Shelbyville Animal Clinic to brace the flume.

Workers with Contech, the firm that is putting the pipe together, were busy Thursday unloading the sections of steel that will be pieced together while the digging is done by Clanton Excavating.

"The process has begun," Clanton said.

The time estimate on completion of the project is hard to judge, said Clanton, who speculated that it could be close to completion in 30 to 45 days, the way things are looking at this time.

But a firm estimate will not be known until the digging begins and the project could take up to 60 days if something unforeseen is encountered during the excavation, Clanton said, or if weather interferes, which will dictate much of the schedule.

"If we get thundershowers, we'll have to stop to let the water flow and then keep going, but it ought to be moving on pretty fast now," Clanton said of the repair work.

Coping with work

The collapse of the flume and rerouting of traffic off the affected area of North Main has had a definite impact on businesses located near the collapse.

Trip York, owner of Bedford Drug, said the diminished traffic has had "a little bit" of impact, but they have adjusted to it in their own way.

"Our normal customers still get here," he said, and the business has started offering free delivery countywide to make sure their customers get what they need.

"We were having so many problems getting people to us that we're trying to get their medicine to them," York said. This is especially helpful to those patients who may not be able to get out of their homes, he said.

York said the drop in traffic "hasn't been too bad."

He added that the road blockage at the old Burger King (at the corner of Lane Parkway and North Cannon Boulevard) had caused most of the problems since they had told customers to approach from the rear of the business.

"It's hurt us a little bit, but not too bad," he said. "Most of our normal customers still come in, but it has hurt a lot of our drop-in business. Most people don't want to deal with the construction problems."

Hard hit

While York said that Bedford Drug "is holding their own," next door at Liquidation Outlet, the story is much different, with owner Don Correll saying that the flume collapse has resulted in a 60 percent drop of his usual sales.

"What we really miss is our through traffic," he said. Saturdays is usually a big day for his business, with a typical take of a couple of thousand dollars in sales, but with no traffic, "we've been doing $300 to $400 instead."

"I'm hoping to survive it; we're starting to see things happen now," Correll said, referring to the work outside.

Correll said the collapse could not have hit his business at a worse time, with the store just receiving its summer inventory and the bill for that shipment due, plus the sour economy that has impacted everyone must be factored in, he said.

"It was at a bad time (for the collapse to occur), that's for sure."