Delays have pushed back the reopening of Coos Bay’s 10th Street as the Coos Bay-North Bend Water Board completes its work on underground pipes.

The original plan was to get traffic moving along the road by July 17. That’s not going to happen for a couple of reasons, said Rob Schab, the Water Board’s manager.

Water Board employees accidentally broke an old pipe, and fixing it took a day.

They also had to wait for some materials that hadn’t been in the original designs. That pushed things back another couple of days.

The $240,000 project has all been done in-house, with Water Board employees working 10-hour days at the site. There have been between three and six workers helping at any one time, Schab said.

Workers need to complete connecting the new 14-inch main to existing pipes, which Schab said should be done this week. They’ll finish next week by paving their work area and removing equipment.

If all goes according to plan, the road will reopen by July 24.

“That certainly is our goal,” he said. “We should be able to wrap things up by then.”

Once the Water Board finishes with its work, the city will put down a new layer of asphalt from Central to Date avenues.

The funds are from the federal stimulus package. Public Works Director Jim Hossley said the earliest the patching can take place is October because of federal requirements.

If rains arrive early, final paving may not happen until spring.