MOUNT VERNON — As the county prepares for the annual fair, the city continues work on its summertime projects.
Several projects are winding down, while some are getting ready to take off.
According to Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis, the preconstruction meeting for the city’s resurfacing project was held recently. The city plans to begin resurfacing streets approximately Aug. 23 and will finish about a month later.
Among those streets proposed to be resurfaced are: Sandusky Street, New Gambier Road, Poplar Street, Miami Street, North Center Street, Woodlake Trial, Deer Trace, Mansfield Avenue, Taylor Road, Nuce Road, West Gambier Street, Vernonview Drive, East Pleasant Street and the cemetery roads. The amount of the streets resurfaced will be contingent on how much it costs.
The city is also looking at work on bridges on Catherine and Braddock streets, as well as sidewalks on Sychar, Beech and Pleasant streets. Those projects, as well as the creation of a new parking lot north of the community pool, are part of the neighborhood revitalization grant the city received. The money for those projects is available to the city until August 2010.
Contracts are expected to be signed Monday for the creation of a rest room/shelter facility at Foundation Park, Mavis said. Hoover Construction of Ashland was awarded the contract.
Several other projects around the city are being completed or are near completion.
City officials and contractors will give a walk-through this coming week on the Gay Street project, looking for any issues that may have arisen. Mavis said they will look at a way to fix the ramp from Gay Street into the parking lot at Critchfield, Critchfield and Johnston. Because the road bed was lowered during the project, the ramp is too steep for many smaller vehicles.
Mavis also said the city will continue to monitor the speed and light sequence on Gay Street now that traffic is permitted in both lanes.
Work on the Plaza building is expected to be completed by the end of August, Mavis said. The parking level, which is accessible from Gay Street, is open, and work continues on the bottom two levels. Mavis said the city and officials from the Dan Emmett Music & Arts Festival are working on the logistics of using the lower level of the garage for handicapped parking for the festival, which runs Aug. 13-16 in downtown Mount Vernon.
Mavis also noted bacteria testing is being done now that the water lines on Vernonview Drive are completed. Once that is approved, the lines will be open and will connect the east and north ends of the city’s lines, allowing for better pressure for firefighting and in case of line breaks.
