New Plan

We knew a plan update was coming and it was finally unveiled on May 19th at City Hall. There was a short presentation followed by many questions during the 90 minutes. See it here.

What Changed

The old plan had three distinct numbered phases and parts labeled with letters.

• Prephase A/B/C – SOM to City Hall
• Phase 1A/1B – City Hall to Liberty
• Phase 2A/2B – Liberty to county line

The new plan basically “lumps” the phases together.  Work won’t be limited to the Phase on the street (1 or 2) or the side of the street (A or B).  Work will occur anywhere from SOM to the county line on any side (north or south).

There will be multiple work zones, some work crews will be followed by other crews rather than waiting for a stretch (Phase) to be completed.  In particular, rebuilding on the north side can start in an area served by the temp road.  Driveways will installed as curbs are installed.

The sequence of activities will be

• Sewer work, deepest first, south side first, and Culvert work
• Temp road follows south side sewer work built in 2 weeks after all excavation complete
  
• North side road (2 1 x 12ft lanes + 5ft bike lane) rebuild
• Remove half of temp road and South side build (1 x 12ft lane + 5 ft bike lane)
• Connect south side homes to new road, remove rest of temp road, rough grade
  
• Restoration delayed to Spring 2011 crew follows road build crew to replace driveway, sidewalk, tree lawn

Deadlines

• Aug 2010 – SOM to City Hall – Competed Aug 27
• Dec 2010 – City Hall to just east of Huntington – Competed Dec 15
• Dec 2011 – Huntington to county line

Discussions

• Contractor said rigid phases would cause them to have to leave the job to wait for stabilization, landscaping, etc.  Multiple work zones overcome this and improves project speed.  Next week Phase A will be waiting for new water line testing, but storm sewer work has started in Phase 1B now and will continue while Phase A is on hold.
• Contractor said they wouldn’t leave the job, it was unclear if this meant because a work zone had to wait for something or whether they would work through winter.  Examples were given of working in Dec, it was unclear about Jan-April.
• During the underground pipe and culverts the temp road won’t be available so an automated traffic signal will be used to maintain 2 way traffic as is sometimes done at the intersection.
• The temp road will only be available for the road reconstruction (“paving”).
• Charts were shown splitting Phase 1 in half, labeled Phase 1A West / 1B West from city hall to east of Huntington and Phase 1A East /1B East from Huntington to Liberty.  This really is just saying that Phase 1 ends at Huntington instead of Liberty.  There is no difference between Phase 1 East and Phase 2.
• No details were given beyond Huntington (Phase 1 East & Phase 2)
• Driveways will be replaced with like material, asphalt or concrete (Pettibone is always concrete).
• Temp mailboxes will be in 5 gal buckets
• A weekly forward looking status report will be issued.  You can find it on Solon’s home page, under the Bainbridge Rd link, titled “Construction Weekly Update”.  It is unclear how the Bainbrige Resident Notice (a link off the Bainbridge Rd link) and hotline will be used going forward.

Controversial Items

• Many complaints about  tree cutting on Phase 2 a year early
• Many complaints on communication
• Implication that an old plan, was pushed through quickly to get stimulus
• Claimed temp road was never intended for utility work and as such doesn’t appear necessary, but they said it was needed for the road rebuild with no proof offered
• Even when the temp road is installed, disruptions are expected, and it is expected that non-local traffic will find their own detours
• It was suggested the road be closed to local traffic and reduce the temp road as making the biggest impact on getting it over
• It was confirmed that the speed limit will remain at 35 mph, 25 mph advisory speed limits were requested for Pettibone but not for Bainbridge.  It was unclear if they would.
• Last June people were assured they’d get the wood from their trees, this hasn’t happened because the bidder expected to sell the wood, if people wanted to keep it, the bidder would offer a higher price as a change order.  Stanek said those that didn’t get it, might be given other wood the city had from removing trees.
• The school board is involved in construction meetings so they can make arrangements for bus service.  Concerns were still expressed.  An example was given that this new “lumped phasing” was reviewed by the school for bus clearance.  It was also said (despite public objections to the contrary) that safety arrangements were successfully made for the SCA after school program.

Did I miss anything, comment or email me at the sidebar link.

Updates/deviations in bold blue.  Last update 12/15/2010

- Competed Aug 27

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