Dateline: May 4, 2006

Paving project could be finished next week

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

It will all be over soon.

Weather permitting, that is.

The 2005 Street Project, which was originally scheduled to be completed last November, should be finished next week, according to city engineer Che Shadle.

“If we get the weather we need, we should be through,” Shadle said.

But as the Enterprise was going to press Tuesday evening, the clouds opened up, dumping rain and hail on the city, and more was forecasted for this week.

On Tuesday morning, subcontractors were in town and shot the oil primer on Seventh Street and the cross streets of Leroy, Johns, Collinson, McLean, and Bond. Workers planned to shoot the remainder of the streets on Wednesday, and then the paving was scheduled to begin in earnest on Thursday.

“They’ll come in here and do all the streets at once, and it will take four or five days,” Shadle said.

Jordan Paving, which is the subcontractor for this part of the job under B&B Solvent, will put down one course of asphalt, lay one course of rock, roll it, and then repeat the process.

“It won’t take long, and people can drive on it just as soon as it goes down,” the engineer said.

Shadle’s firm, OJD Engineering, will monitor the paving as it is done.

The finished streets will be 30 feet wide inside the curbs, and the project covers the following streets: Third Street from Collinson to McLean, Fourth Street from Collinson to McLean, Sixth Street from Cottage to Koogle, Seventh Street from the western city limit to Koogle, Eighth Street from Leroy to Bugbee Avenue, Leroy Street from Fifth to Eighth, Johns Street from Sixth to approximately one-half block past Eighth, Collinson Street from Clarendon Avenue to Eighth Street, McLean Street from Clarendon Avenue to Eighth, and Bond Street from Sixth to Eighth.

The project, which had an original price tag of $974,485, is being paid for with some money the city had on hand raised from higher utility and service fee plus seven-year tax obligation notes for $800,000. Additionally, the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation has already pledged $150,000 to the project, and the CEDC board also intends to provide $30,000 each year to help the city pay the indebtedness.

Shadle says the contractor will be responsible for maintaining the streets for one year after the completion date; but after that, it will be up to the city to take care of them to  stand the test of time.