Salem Street Area Utility Improvement Project

Project Updates

Next week, (January 9th, 2023) Waste Management will begin picking up trash and recycling in Exeter on Wednesdays at the regular start time of 7 am. 

12/22/22: Jamco will be cleaning and restoring Park Street and the Park Street Common. Additional crews will be cleaning and restoring around the new sidewalks on Oak Street and Salem Street. Jamco will also begin demobilizing major pieces of construction equipment and materials from the project area.

Previous updates can be found here.

Project Background

The Salem Street area neighborhood has some of the oldest water and sewer lines in Exeter. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the Town established a water and sewer main rehabilitation program as part of its annual Capital Improvement Program (CIP). One example of a project completed through this program includes the water main improvements for Washington Street, which were approved in FY 2016 and construction completed in FY 2018. The water and sewer mains in the Salem Street area neighborhood require significant improvements on Forest, Hale, Locust, Oak, Park (partial), Salem, Wadleigh, Walnut, and Warren Streets. Some of the water mains in this neighborhood were identified as being undersized and in poor condition in the 2015 Water Asset Management Plan prepared for the Town by an independent consultant. In FY 2014 the drain lines were televised and found to be in good condition but many of the catch basins in poor condition and needing to be replaced. The sewers in the neighborhood are old clay pipes with joint separations and tree root intrusions, subject to occasional blockages that require jetting and cleaning by Town forces.

This project has been in the planning stage for several years and is listed in Exeter’s current FY 2020-2025 CIP. The project will replace approximately 5,600 feet of water mains, upgrading them from 4” and 6” to 6” and 8” mains, based on the hydraulic analysis. Approximately 2,825 feet of sewers will be replaced with PVC pipe sized to meet projected sewer flows in the area. Catch basins will be replaced, as needed, based on prior inspections and additional investigations to be completed in the spring of 2020.

To get started the project will require marking of existing utilities by the Town and private utility owners; marking of subsurface boring/probes by the project consultant, Hoyle, Tanner & Associates, Inc.; collection of physical features and topographic data by a licensed land surveyor; and collection of subsurface data by a qualified drilling company. The design will be completed in FY 2020 with construction planned in FY 2021 pending Town approval of the construction during the March 2021 Town vote.

Subscribe to DPW construction updates here.  Information will also be posted to the project's Facebook page.