A major sewer project in Norwood is slated to have round the clock work taking place to speed up the process, which could be disruptive to residents’ sleep and their drinking water.

Community Board 7 members approved the idea by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, where crews from the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) have spent seven months excavating roads to replace century-old sewer pipes along Bainbridge Avenue. The approval clears DDC to obtain a nighttime work permit from the New York City Department of Transportation, which holds oversight on any work happening on city streets and roads.

Crews have started on Bainbridge Avenue near the Woodlawn station of the #4 subway line and have slowly crept to a “critical intersection” of Bainbridge Avenue and East Gun Hill Road. The intersection is a major nexus for buses, drivers, and ambulances that drop off patients at Montefiore Medical Center. Since the project began, traffic has been somewhat congested, particularly during the morning and early afternoons when schools let out. Parking spots have also been knocked out so crews can dig up the relic drains.

“It’ll be easier and faster to allow them to work at night,” Lowell Green, Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee chair, told members.

A consultant for the project, Teresa Toro, told members at the March 21 general board meeting it’ll work as fast as possible to work at night. On top of Montefiore, notices of the work along Bainbridge Avenue were given to St. Ann’s School and the Bainbridge Nursing Home. The nursing home was told to prepare for disruptions in water service.

“The longest that we turn off water, we say up to eight hours. It’s frequently less. And we’re usually not there longer than a day or two,” Toro said.

Toro didn’t offer much in the way of a time on when the night work in Norwood would finish or what times they will begin. The overall project, spanning the Bronx, is expected to finish sometime in November 2018.

In Van Cortlandt Village, residents are coping with a similar project involving an overhaul of old gas lines by Con Edison, which has knocked out parking spots for the last few weeks. A second project happening between Van Cortlandt Avenue West and Fort Independence Avenue will have crews replace antiquated electric feeder cables. That project is expected to start in April and last until Fall 2018.

Editor’s Note: Teresa Toro can be reached at (718) 644-2065 or email, bainbridgeprojectccl@gmail.com.