NASHUA – In the Gate City, detours, paving and various forms of utility work seem to have no end in sight – much to the annoyance of motorists.

However, for many Nashuans detouring around the downtown area, good news is on the way. Night milling work is set to sweep across Kinsley Street on Wednesday. With a number of paving projects on the city’s to-do-list, one project completed last week was handled beneath the pavement: cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining.

“It can be used to fix damaged or deteriorating sewer lines without having to dig up the entire street,” Nashua Division of Public Works spokeswoman Lauren Byers said.

During a town hall-style meetings with Mayor Jim Donchess last week, Byers said residents may have noticed steam coming from certain manhole covers. She said this was as a result of the sewer work, which Byers said is ongoing and has been for years.

“What it does is, it saves us from having to replace the piping,” Byers said.

She said the city is aiming to salvage the sewers that are intact enough to be salvageable by lining them via the CIPP method. She said this process is minimally invasive, and is done by snaking a lining into the sewer and heating it so that it adheres to the sides of the pipe. This will create a corrosion-resistant lining that fits tightly.

This lining may allow these pipes to function for another 40 years, or so. Byers said lining work completed last week included those in portions of Franklin Street, West Hollis Street, Main Street and Mulberry Street.

“It impacts people, Byers said. “It’s important to keep these main lines running.”

She expects this work to continue throughout the remainder of the summer, with some pipes being lined, while others are replaced. She said some of the oldest pipes date to the 1860s.

“Some of those (water and sewer lines) are now failing, and I think they’ve given their all,” Byers said. “It’s pretty impressive they’ve gone over 100 years.”

If this work was not done on the city’s aging infrastructure, she said it could lead additional problems that could include sinkholes.

The company the city contracted to perform this sewer work is Kenyon Pipeline Inspection of Queensbury, New York. Byers said this year’s cost for the CIPP lining work is about $2.8 million. However, she plans are for more work to take place for the next several years.

She said sewer work is slated to continue throughout the week, but is tentatively scheduled, depending on what she calls a variety of factors. Although unsure which street the work will occur on first, the next two streets set to see CIPP lining are Gilman and King streets.

Adam Urquhart may be contacted at 594-1206 or aurquhart@nashuatelegraph.com.