The City of Darlington has been awarded a $1.25 million Community Infrastructure Grant through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. Darlington was one of just 15 communities receiving a grant in the Spring Awards Cycle totaling $12 million.

The South Main/East Broad Sewer Upgrade project will replace 2,100 linear feet of the existing 18-inch gravity sewer using the pipe bursting method and consists of rehabilitation of the 18-inch gravity sewer on East Broad Street and the 10-inch gravity sewer along a section of South Main Street.

An 18-inch, high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe will be pulled through the existing clay pipe, expanded to full size, which will crush the existing terracotta. The old pipe will be destroyed, leaving the new pipe to replace it. Each manhole will be upgraded by coating the interior to strengthen the walls and seal it from infiltration. The depth of the sewer mains varies from 12 feet to 18 feet in depth.

The project stemmed from an earlier sewer collapse on East Broad Street back in February 2020. The City used an emergency SC Rural Infrastructure Authority grant to replace 700 feet of sewer lines on those two blocks of East Board from Vaughan to South Ervin. It left traffic detoured for more than a year as crews had to dig more than 20 feet to reach the sewer pipes. That $750,000 project wrapped up in 2021.

The terracotta pipes decayed after nearly 75 years. They simply failed, and the City looked further down the street towards South Main Street to look for potential problems.

Video investigation discovered cracks along the entirety of East Broad Street’s terra cotta sewer pipes to avoid a catastrophic collapse. This part of the sewer system transports more than 50% of the City sewer to the main pump station, so something had to be done.

“The old gravity sewer mains along South Main Street and East Broad Street have well exceeded their useful life and have become a hazard. The poor condition of the piping threatens possible cave-ins affecting traffic safety and possible contaminating soils,” says Charles Shugart, water and sewer director for the City of Darlington. “Replacing the gravity sewer mains will bring new life to the collection system and prevent future pipe collapses and flow restrictions providing dependable, reliable sewer service to the residents.”

The South Main/East Broad Sewer Upgrade Project serves a large section of town including most of West Broad Street, to Edwards Avenue on the west, to Chestnut Street to the south, East Hampton Street on the north, and Third Street and Avenue D on the southeast. Dozens of restaurants and businesses in the City, the County Courthouse, Mayo High School, Darlington Veneer, and hundreds of residents all use this part of the system.

South Main Street was one of the first thoroughfares in the city to get surfaced using concrete. Over the years, several layers of asphalt paving have been added over the concrete base, thus making accessing the gravity sewer pipe beneath very expensive and complex.

SCDOT estimates that part of town has an average of 7,500 vehicles traveling through daily.

The project’s next steps will be to draw out plans and design details, get approval from SCDHEC and SCDOT, and put the project out to bid.