Street work closes traffic on South Main Street

Sanitary sewer line on South Main

If you've tried to use South Main Street to enter or leave Bluffton during the day, you'll discover that it's closed to traffic. The closing is due to the installation of a sanitary sewer replacement line going in.

The line ties Grove Street through the back yards of some West Kibler and some South Main properties where it enters Main near Clay Street.

Although Clay Street may be unknown to most residents, it is platted on village maps.

According to Jamie Mehaffie, village administrator, originally the plan was to make a manhole at Clay and Main the temporary end point for the sanitary sewer replacement project.

Due to the timing of an annexation process of South Dixie Highway, the village corporation line will be the new end point for this phase of the project.

The corporation line marks the point where the line will be outside of the existing pavement, said Mehaffie.

"This way, the in-asphalt portion of the project will be able to be paved," he said. "There was a concern that if we waited on the annexation process, the asphalt plant would be closed prior to the project extending into the roadway.