Trent Road erosion, drainage problems focus of upcoming city projects

Todd Wetherington
·2 min read
Two new public works projects will address drainage and erosion problems along New Bern’s Trent Rd. and Red Robin Lane corridors.
Two new public works projects will address drainage and erosion problems along New Bern’s Trent Rd. and Red Robin Lane corridors.

Ongoing problems with drainage and collapsing ditch banks along New Bern’s Trent Rd. corridor will be addressed as part of two upcoming city projects.

The projects will concentrate on the ditch bank at the intersection of Red Robin Ln. and Trent Rd. and another ditch adjacent to Flythe’s Bike Shop that have been steadily eroding due to drainage problems in the area.

According to George Chiles, director of Public Works, the Red Robin Ln./Trent Rd. project will use rocks to stabilize the ditch bank and replace a 60-inch culvert.

The Trent Rd. project beside Flythe’s Bike Shop will also use the rock bank stabilization method to reinforce the downstream flow from triple 60-inch pipes.

Chiles said both sites have had long standing erosion problems.

“The one along Flythe’s has high velocity and high quantity of runoff that’s creating some unstable bank situations adjacent to Trent Rd. and downstream,” he said. “On Red Robin, if you drive by it’s pretty self-evident that we have a bank stabilization issue. We also have a sewer force main and pump station along that bank that we need to protect.”

Chiles said the city is waiting on last minute permits from the state and has set a tentative start date for the projects in early March. The contract allows 180 days for the work to be completed but Chiles said he estimated it would take 60 days in total, weather permitting.

Both projects have been awarded to JYMCO Construction Company of Smithfield. The company submitted a low bid of $209,500 for the Red Robin Ln. work and $227,025 for the Trent Rd. project.

Funding for the repairs was allocated through Ward 2’s American Rescue Plan allocation.

The Trent Rd. work will come on the heels of the city’s stormwater drainage project at Union Point Park to address problems with standing water in the streets and playground area.

The $58,000 project is also utilizing the city’s federal ARP funding.

Now in its final stages, the work will replace undersized stormwater infrastructure that is several decades old with larger pipes and catch basins along Union Point Park’s entrance road and parts of its southern loop.

This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Trent Road erosion, drainage problems focus of upcoming city projects