MARTINS FERRY — Work to remedy the collapse of a large storm sewer drain on Seventh Street should start next week.

Mayor John Davies said the old pipe is made of brick and is about 8 feet wide and 8 feet tall. He noted different sections of it have collapsed across the city over the years, and this is the latest section.

“It’s not as big as what it looks. It’s not a huge project,” he said. “If we contracted it out it could cost $50,000 to $100,000, but we can do it ourselves. I have a construction background and I know what we need to do.”

Davies said the plan is to excavate the damaged portion and then place a thick steel plate over top of the opening and then use concrete with rebar overtop of the plate.

He said the steel will be ½-inch thick and the concrete with rebar will be a foot thick.

“It should last a long time,” Davies said. “That should secure the road and get the storm drain back in.”

Davies said a previous fix on that section of drain done years ago did not hold under the weight of the city’s new street sweeper.

“What happened is that when it was patched before they only poured four inches of concrete and they didn’t put rebar in it,” he added.

Davies noted the old, mostly brick, storm sewer drain starts atop a hill off Seabrights Lane and runs the length of the city underground. Near Center Street it opens back up again and then goes underground again through to the Ohio River. That opening is near the marina.

“We will keep fixing them as we find them. Eventually we get them all,” he said of drains that collapse.

Meanwhile, the repaving of Ohio 647 and Hanover Street was wrapping up on Tuesday in the city. A section of Hanover Street was closed to traffic to allow workers to finish up the work. This included the spraying of a bonding agent on top of the new asphalt, something that Davies said people would not want on their vehicles.

This likely is why the road was closed during that work. New striping also was sprayed on the roadway.

Davies noted this past weekend’s rainstorm also kept city workers busy. The deluge backed up some storm drains, causing some minor flooding on a few streets.