Weather permitting, crews will begin paving the six-block stretch of 10th Street from Idaho to Louisiana streets upon the completion of the water-distribution projects in that area.

The stretch of 10th Street, which is located one block south of Highway 2 and parallels the state highway, has been under construction for the past three weeks as crews installed pressure-reducing vaults along the corridor. The fifth vault will be finished in the spring.

“The (pressure-reducing vaults) will equalize pressure on the high-end water customers and low-end,” said Project Manager Gary Beach of Noble Excavating. Beach explained that because Libby’s water-distribution system is gravity-fed from the water-treatment plant, there is a tendency to have higher water pressure for customers closer to the Kootenai River and less pressure on the higher-elevated, south end of town.

Beach said customers on First and Second streets, for example, may have pressure at 70 pounds per square inch where customers on the south end may have 30 psi. The pressure-reducing vaults will provide more standardized pressure, he said.

In addition to the pressure-reducing vaults, the city essentially is installing two mains under 10th Street that will enable separate sectional shut-offs for the north and south areas of the city.

“Previously, shutting off water here would affect areas as far away as Woodway Park,” Beach said.

Beach said with the rise of water pressure in the south side of town, there likely will be an increase in leaks on the south side. Because of this, the crews will not initiate the pressure-reducing vault system until spring.

“You don’t want to be fixing water leaks in the winter,” he said.

Libby Mayor Doug Roll concurred with Beach’s assessment.

“That’s what I understand,” Roll said. “Tentatively, paving on Monday. They’ll wrap it up in the spring.”