College Street work wrapping up
After countless delays and roadblocks, the orange barrels will soon be a thing of the past on College Street in Washington.
Most work on the street between Highland Avenue and East Maiden Street should be complete by the end of the month.
College is part of the Route 19 corridor improvement project. Work on College and Lincoln Street was to be done in 2012 as part of the project, but delays with the relocation of water lines prevented work from being done on College last year.
Work started on College in March on the left side of the street and switched to the right in the middle of the summer.
“We are still in the same configuration working on curb cuts, ramps and signals in the same area,” said Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for the state Department of Transportation, at a construction update Tuesday. “At the earliest, the paving crew should be in there in the middle of next week to put down the base and binder. Four or five days later, the wearing course should be put down on both sides, and the intersection at Maiden and College will be milled and paved.”
After the streets are paved, lines and parking stalls will be painted on College. Ron Holsopple of Donegal Construction said he will be working with Washington Parking Authority director Tom Kearns to put the parking meters back on the street. About 30 to 40 trees also will be planted starting the middle of the month to replace those removed before the start of the project.
When the paving is complete, Faieta said drivers may still encounter some short-term lane closures as utility poles are moved so curb work can be completed. Faieta said several utility companies are involved.
“We are finding that some of the poles may have lines from companies that are no longer in existence or realize they still have lines,” Faieta said. “It is getting down to the nitty gritty. We are pushing the utilities to find out who has what so we can get this done.”
While the majority of the work will be done by the end of October, work on traffic signals and other finishing touches could stretch into November.
“We’ve been through a lot with this project, but I think Donegal and our field staff have done a good job dealing with unforeseen situations that were dug up,” Faieta said.
The second phase of the Route 19 corridor project, which includes repaving Murtland and Ridge avenues and realigning the intersection of Highland, Locust and Ridge avenues, started this summer with work between the state police barracks and Central Avenue. That project will be done in 2014.