CHESAPEAKE — Design work continues on a proposed project to reconstruct the drainage system along Rockwood Avenue in Chesapeake.

“We will be reconstructing the drainage system north of the bridge (from Chesapeake to Huntington),” said Kathleen Fuller, public information officer for Ohio Department of Transportation, District 9.

There will be 35 pipes that will be replaced at an estimated cost of $1.7 million.

“Water is backing up,” Fuller said. “We see a lot of this along the corridor in the southern Ohio drainage system that is antiquated. With the Ohio River things back up quickly with the drainage lines that are old. They are structurally not as sound as they used to be. There is a massive amount of drainage that has to go into the river and things get back up in the overpipe.”

Because of the extent and complexity of the project, designers from two other ODOT districts will join the District 9 crew.

“They have the experience,” Fuller said. “We have a relatively small staff.”

The project is expected to go to bid in June of 2015 and could start the next month.

“It should take one construction season and the project could be done by late fall,” Fuller said.