Sawmill branch bypass operation

Its biggest flaw is the reason the Sawmill Branch Trail in Summerville was built. It runs along utility rights of way.

The popular, woodsy walk-bike recreation trail runs six miles along the town's biggest drainage canal, under power lines and over gas and sewer lines. Because those rights of way existed, and because former Town Planner Joe Christie sought out grant after grant to get the clearing and paving work done, the trail was built at little expense to the swarm of taxpayers who use it today.

So perhaps there's not much to be said when the Summerville Commissioners of Public Works asks to close down one of the most popular segments for a month. CPW plans to rope off much of the section running between Carolina Avenue and Luden Drive during December so it can do a bypass operation. Sewer bypass, that is.

A huge concrete pipe running under the trail there is starting to come apart; CPW needs to install a liner. To do that, the flow has to be diverted from one manhole to another by running a line on the surface along the trail.

'We'd rather keep the public away from what we're doing because we're bypassing raw sewage,' said Charlie Cuzzell, CPW manager.

Bypassing is the way the trail has gone since it first was conceived in the 1990s. No sooner than its first two segments were laid, traffic-snarled Carolina Avenue between those segments became a gantlet for walkers, cyclers pushing bikes and moms looking both ways as they led children or pushed strollers.

In 2001, the town built a pedestrian tunnel under the road. A second pedestrian tunnel runs under Bacons Bridge Road farther down. A few years back, the segment running to Bacons Bridge was torn apart for Dorchester County sewer line repairs, then restored. The segment below the road recently saw utility work.

It hasn't slowed anyone down. The trail has become a signature feature in Summerville, nearly rivaling storied Azalea Park. Spur trails continue to expand it. Long-range plans call for the trail to run the entire length of the canal within the town limits from Interstate Highway 26 to a new park alongside the Jessen Boat Landing on the Ashley River.

Conceptual plans show a bridge across the river itself to connect with a scenic trail that would run down Ashley River Road all the way to Charleston.

Meanwhile, that sewer line has to be plugged. CPW is working with town officials to do the work with the least amount of interruption possible. The sewer work will continue past Luden Drive, but that won't affect the trail, which crosses the river to the other bank at that road.

'They're going to try to avoid closing the trail, but they do need to put that line down,' said Russ Cornette, town engineer.

And anytime you divert sewage, a little, er, aroma is possible. But 'there shouldn't be any concentrated odor,' Cuzzell said.

Reach Bo Petersen at 937-5744 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.