MOUNT VERNON — One project in the city is about to get under way, and two more are close to being ready to go.
The Gay Street improvement project will begin this coming week now that the preconstruction process is completed, according to Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis. The city engineer and Terra Valley Excavating shored up the final details of the $1,091,522.70 project that will replace the bricks with asphalt from Howard Street to Chestnut Street. Terra Valley expects the project to take 18 weeks to complete, weather permitting. By starting next week, it will be done in advance of the Aug. 1 deadline.
Terra Valley representatives told the city they would be able to complete the project without completely closing the road. They will close just one lane at a time.
“Timewise, they’re exactly where we hoped they’d be,” said Mavis. “At this point, we’re very pleased with the schedule, very pleased with them maintaining one lane of traffic and getting the work done on time.”
The city still plans to put up a detour for traffic going through Mount Vernon on Ohio 13, but Mavis figures local residents will find alternate routes to get through the downtown area.
The project will start with the replacement of an old galvanized water line that services the Chamber of Commerce and the car wash at the southern end of Gay Street. Then, workers will replace the water line that runs the length of the construction site before working on removing the bricks, repairing the roadbed and asphalting it.
Mavis said the city will save the salvageable bricks, as well as some sandstone curbing that’s in place along the five blocks of street.
“Even though those bricks may be marketable, we’re not going to sell them. We’ve still got more than seven miles of brick streets to maintain, and the city needs them,” he said.
The curbing will also be replaced, and some trees along the street will be removed. Mavis said crews will replant trees along the street once the project is completed.
In other construction news, the city awarded the roof repair bid on the Plaza Building to Exterior Systems of Plain City. The company bid $51,600 to repair the roof, way under the estimate of $91,400. Mavis said the bid of Lithko Restoration of Columbus has been approved, but not yet awarded, for the rest of the project. It bid $384,456 to rehab the walls and floors of the building, which hosts the Mount Vernon Police Department and other offices.
Mavis also said the Vernonview Drive water project is ready to be bid.
In other news, Mavis said the water fountain at Riverside Park has been taken out and placed in storage. The old fountain will be relocated farther away from High Street and an on-off switch put in place this summer.
Mavis said the composting area on Thayer Road will be open on Wednesdays starting April 1. The compost facility accepts weeds, limbs and other compostable material from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Dave Carpenter of the city street department has found a small, used road grader the city will purchase to help maintain non-paved alleys. The city is also purchasing a Bobcat for street department use.
Mavis said the annexation of the old American National Can property is ready to go to the county commissioners. The owner of the property has signed off on the annexation, as has Clinton Township, so now it is up to the commissioners to approve the annexation.
