ARLINGTON – Buried beneath layers of cracking asphalt, beside a labyrinth of aging pipes, 21 unidentified metal objects hide. Long forgotten by all but the city’s oldest residents, these mysterious objects are about to be unearthed.
City officials believe some, if not all, of the objects are old fuel tanks.
On Tuesday, they’ll begin to find out.
Environmental contractors from Kent are scheduled to start drilling holes through sections of Olympic Avenue on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, city workers used old insurance maps, city directories and old-timers’ knowledge to identify 14 possible tanks left over from gas stations and household heating oil supplies. Ground-penetrating radar confirmed the existence of metal in those areas – as well as in seven other spots along six blocks of Olympic Avenue.
Rivers Edge Services is now charged with figuring out exactly what is buried beneath Arlington’s main thoroughfare.
Any tanks that are found will be steam-cleaned and vacuumed. A chemist will then examine the tanks for oil. Once they are deemed clean, Riverside Edge Services will remove the tanks and recycle them for scrap metal. Contaminated soil also will be removed and cleaned, said Paul Ellis, Arlington’s capital projects manager.
By Sept. 1, Ellis hopes to have all the tanks removed and the road repaired, temporarily. As close to New Year’s 2007 as weather permits, the road will once again be torn up in sections.
Old utility pipes, some approaching a half-century old, will be dug up and replaced, enhancing the city’s ability to handle storm water, Ellis said. New sidewalks and street lights also are scheduled to be installed. This phase of the project is estimated to take six months.
The city has set aside $6 million for the entire project.
When she first heard about the renovations, Carla Lowe said she was worried that construction would mean trouble for her Olympic Avenue business, Little Italy Italian Market &Trattoria.
“The merchants were absolutely terrified about the potential of lost business and perhaps the loss of our business,” she said. “The community itself could be so impacted that businesses could go down. We’ve seen it in every other town.”
Over the last year, city officials and staff have met weekly with the local merchants group at Little Italy. And Lowe’s fears have turned into confidence for the project.
“When the city does remove the tanks and completes the renovations, it will be done one block at a time so that people can still come to downtown,” she said. “We have to count on our customers to come to town and support your local businesses. It’s going to be beautiful in the end, but if we can’t survive, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is.”
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
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