MOUNT VERNON — The city of Mount Vernon will soon be replacing a retaining wall at the back side of 3 N. Gay St.
The wall behind the tax and water department office is old and leaning, and city officials recently signed a purchase order to replace the wall. City Parks Department Superintendent Geoff Oliver said the city ordered precast concrete blocks from United Precast Inc. for the wall. The blocks are 1 foot high, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep and the wall is approximately 100 feet long.
There is a slope along the wall, so the number of blocks needed at each end will be different. The drive-through will be closed for a short period of time when the work is being done, Oliver said. The project will cost $21,246.
Oliver said his department has been hard at work mowing city lands and parks, and that they are looking at buying a new bat-wing mower. The existing tractors will be used to pull the 12-foot-wide mower deck, which will cut the time needed to mow almost in half.
Several other projects are also going on in the city.
Workers are on the final phase of the brick rehabilitation project on North McKenzie Street. Work should be completed on that section soon, according to City Engineer Cameron Keaton.
Keaton said it’s nearly a new street between East High and Sugar streets, as the project included new storm and sanitation sewer lines, as well as new curbing and the repair of sidewalks. He said the manholes on Sugar Street at the intersection will also be leveled out.
The bidding process on the 2011 portion of the project will begin in about three weeks. McKenzie Street’s bricks will be redone between Sugar and Hamtramck streets this summer.
Bids are now being accepted for the crossover road between Yauger Road and Coshocton Avenue. The bids will be opened May 20 with construction expected to begin soon after. The new road will use the current entrance on Coshocton Avenue to Knox Community Hospital and extend between KCH and Lowe’s over to Yauger Road. Keaton said there will be street lights put in on the road and a new traffic signal will be placed at Yauger Road.
