City says work could be done by Thanksgiving
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Asphalt paving on the Center Street renovation project began this morning, said Kim Leake, Warsaw's public works superintendent.
"The curbs are in, the storm sewers and sanitary sewers - the infrastructure - are done," he said.
A lot depends on the weather, Leake said, but his goal is to have the whole project done by the week before Thanksgiving.
Warsaw Mayor Jeff Plank said the projected goal for completion of the project is two weeks. "We want to protect the Christmas shopping season," he said.
"Frankly, we got started later than we had hoped," Plank said. The Center Street renovation was delayed because of other projects, such as South Union Street, that had to be finished first.
"We will do better in the future renovations to try to schedule these projects so they don't approach a major shopping season," he said. "In future years we'll do our best to be sensitive to timing."
Leake said the street crews worked a lot of overtime last month: "My guys worked about 12 hours a day in October," he said. "We worked as fast as we possibly could."
For businesses that complained about not being notified on what progress was being made, Leake said, "We had the WCDC involved, we had the downtown merchants involved, we had it in the newspaper."
He said the city plans to start on the next block of the courthouse project next year, probably in late summer. From there, they plan on doing one to two blocks a year. He said the entire project is expected to take five to six years.
Plank said he realized work on other streets and railroad crossings made driving downtown difficult, but that it's often not a choice by the city.
He had talked to Conrail for months to get the repairs done to the intersections, he said.
"When you lobby so hard to get them in here, you don't beat them up when they do come in," he said. [[In-content Ad]]
Asphalt paving on the Center Street renovation project began this morning, said Kim Leake, Warsaw's public works superintendent.
"The curbs are in, the storm sewers and sanitary sewers - the infrastructure - are done," he said.
A lot depends on the weather, Leake said, but his goal is to have the whole project done by the week before Thanksgiving.
Warsaw Mayor Jeff Plank said the projected goal for completion of the project is two weeks. "We want to protect the Christmas shopping season," he said.
"Frankly, we got started later than we had hoped," Plank said. The Center Street renovation was delayed because of other projects, such as South Union Street, that had to be finished first.
"We will do better in the future renovations to try to schedule these projects so they don't approach a major shopping season," he said. "In future years we'll do our best to be sensitive to timing."
Leake said the street crews worked a lot of overtime last month: "My guys worked about 12 hours a day in October," he said. "We worked as fast as we possibly could."
For businesses that complained about not being notified on what progress was being made, Leake said, "We had the WCDC involved, we had the downtown merchants involved, we had it in the newspaper."
He said the city plans to start on the next block of the courthouse project next year, probably in late summer. From there, they plan on doing one to two blocks a year. He said the entire project is expected to take five to six years.
Plank said he realized work on other streets and railroad crossings made driving downtown difficult, but that it's often not a choice by the city.
He had talked to Conrail for months to get the repairs done to the intersections, he said.
"When you lobby so hard to get them in here, you don't beat them up when they do come in," he said. [[In-content Ad]]