Water leak under State Road 332 delays Park One entrance work; county, Yorktown consider fixes

Construction of a second entrance to Park One was interrupted in June after contractors and staff discovered a leak in the water line casing under State Road (SR) 332.

Contractors and town staff said exploratory digging and pressure testing isolated the leak to the pipe running inside a protective casing beneath the highway. Project staff reported water was flowing from the casing into surrounding soils and that the saturated subgrade prevented trucks from loading and finishing the roadway. A contractor said the leakage was interfering with project work and urged a near-term fix to keep the job on schedule.

To keep the entrance project moving, engineers for the construction team recommended installing a subsurface drain along the new road alignment to collect and divert the leaking water; doing that would allow the contractor to dry and compact the subgrade and resume work while the town and INDOT consider a longer-term jack-and-bore solution to replace the casing and water line. The longer fix would require INDOT permitting and could be substantially more costly.

Yorktown's town manager, who said the town has been operating its Park One water system at a loss, will present the repair options to the town council; the commission asked staff to begin INDOT permitting as needed and to allow the contractor to proceed with contingency work so the entrance project is not delayed.

What happens next: Contractors will pursue a subsurface drain option within the existing project contingency to allow work to continue; Yorktown and county staff will pursue INDOT permitting and cost-sharing conversations for a permanent casing/pipe replacement.