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New Shady Cove sewer line slides beneath Rogue River SHADY COVE -- Armadillo Underground crews have successfully pulled a sewer pipe through a hole drilled 40 feet beneath the Rogue River, completing the first such project in the river's history. "It went extremely well," said Jerry L'Estrange, city administrator. Crews fused the polyethylene pipe together on the riverbank before pulling it through the hole in one continuous motion to the other side, L'Estrange said. "It was something to see, that 700 feet of pipe being pulled like a big snake," he said. Armadillo Underground of Salem made history when it bored beneath the Rogue River to lay Shady Cove's new sewer main last month. Currently, the sewer pipe stretches across the Highway 62 bridge. The river boring was a crucial step in the city's overhaul of its sewer system. The rehabilitation project will eventually cost $3 million. The boring cost $625,000, plus $146,000 for the engineering, L'Estrange said. The project is being funded by $800,000 in state and federal grants and loans. The first phase includes replacing sewer pipe and building a new pump station. It's expected to take two more months to complete. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA