MOUNT VERNON — The city of Mount Vernon will soon begin a project to rehab McKenzie Street between Sugar and Hamtramck streets. The project will totally rehabilitate McKenzie, a brick street.
The project will begin the first week of October, weather permitting, and is expected to be finished by the end of the year, according to Mount Vernon Safety-Service Director Dave Glass.
The city has also taken steps to make sure the project does not unduly inconvenience the residents along the route.
“We are not changing any directions on any of the alleys. The street will be totally closed off for most of the project,” he said. “Everybody (along the street) is going to have access to their homes through the alleys or a side street. We talked to everybody about it and they all seemed comfortable with the arrangements. We even did some maintenance on the alleys to make them easier to deal with.”
Glass said the project will be a complete rehab of the street.
“We’re going to go in and replace the water lines and sewer lines,” Glass said. “Then, we will put new curbs and gutters in and pour a new concrete base.”
Glass said the city will reuse the existing bricks to repave the street. The project was necessary, in part, because the old concrete base was deteriorating causing the bricks to shift and for water to seep down to the base and cause more damage.
“We think the existing base was made with inferior concrete,” Glass added.
Glass emphasized this project was part of an ongoing commitment by the city to rehabilitate the brick streets in the city’s residential areas.
“It’s just another step in rehabbing our brick streets,” he said. “I think we’ve come a long way in the last 10 years. I remember when we weren’t doing anything with the brick streets.”