The city’s water and sewer authority is replacing 500 feet of sewer underneath two blocks of Central Avenue. Above, one block has a trench inside which workers are placing the new cement pipes. — Photo by Jeremy Sapienza

The century-old drainage pipes underneath a section of Central Avenue have partially collapsed, according to the city’s Dept. of Environmental Protection, and the agency is tasked with opening up the roadway between Melrose and Troutman Streets so that 500 feet of new 12-inch cement sewer can be laid.

“The pipes have been in need of maintenance for a long time,” said DEP spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla. “These are the original [clay] sewer pipes,” which were possibly laid some time around the 1880s.

	The staging area between Jefferson and Troutman Streets is storage for equipment, metal plates, and new cement piping. (Jeremy Sapienza)

Over the last week, workers have been using heavy equipment to slice down the center of the roadbed, which will be excavated so that the damaged pipe can be removed and replaced. Between Jefferson and Melrose, crews have begun to dig out portions of the asphalt; the block is closed to traffic during work hours, and open to traffic at night.

Central from Jefferson to Troutman remains open to traffic during the preparatory work, while the block is being used as a staging area. It will be closed when workers begin excavations some time in the next week.

The work is expected to be finished over the next two weeks.

Other major sewer work going on in Bushwick includes Wilson Avenue between Madison and Cornelia Streets; all around the intersections of Knickerbocker, Myrtle, and Greene Avenues and Harman Street; and Greene and Bushwick Avenues. All the projects are expected to take several weeks.

The DEP has budgeted $142 million for new sewers throughout Brooklyn’s aging drainage system, with work projected to be complete by 2014.