Main St. paving set to begin
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — July has arrived with warmer temperatures and this bodes well for planned resurfacing along Presque Isle’s main thoroughfare — U.S. Route 1.
The paving that needs to be done to Main Street will be done at night, when temperatures drop the most. Ray DeMerchant, project manager from the Department of Transportation, explained that this was one of many considerations when planning the start of the highly-anticipated road project.
“We’re dealing with asphalt, it comes in a liquid,” DeMerchant explained. “You need to keep it warm without destroying its chemical properties.” Paving at night requires some decent temperatures; it is too cool in May or June.
“Temperatures need to be above 50 degrees for a surface pavement. It’s been tough, quite restrictive on our contractors. July, August and September are prime paving months.”
The limitations of working at night were outweighed by two big factors; traffic volume and business owners’ requests.
“We have an 18,000 vehicle count per day that go on Main Street,” explained Deputy City Manager Martin Puckett. “DOT has agreed to do night work, that will help to alleviate those problems.”
“If we (DOT) were blocking any pavement during the day, traffic would be backed up through town. It would be miserable,” said DeMerchant.
The bidding process for the Main Street project opened on June 24. MaineDOT contracts are put online on their website and are available for public viewing. Once a contractor puts in a bid, they have to be awarded the project, a process that can take a couple of weeks. Following that is a pre-construction conference which is attended by the contractor, DOT personnel, city officials and any utilities that may be affected by the project.
The actual start date is still up in the air, since a contractor has not yet been awarded the contract. Once that decision has been made, the contractor’s schedule of existing projects will determine when Presque Isle will see crews on Main Street.
Another project that has added to the timeline has been the sidewalk, proposed by the city, to be built from Keybank and extending north to Pizza Hut on Maysville Street. DOT needed to draw up the plans, and make sure easement and right of way procedures were taken cared of before the bidding process began.
The sidewalk is an important part of the Main Street construction.
“We’ve seen so many people in the last five years – it’s been incredible,” said Puckett. “People going to the store, people going to Walmart. Currently they’re using the informal sidewalk on the west side of the road instead of the east. There’s nothing on the east. They’re walking through Veteran’s Park and peoples’ front lawns. This (sidewalk) will help a lot of these people. We also had people, in the winter time, that were walking in the eastern road lane. So cars and traffic had to go around them while they’re walking. We think this will help with pedestrian safety.”
The contractor that receives the Main Street project will have some restrictions that need to be observed. Night work is at the top of the list. Lane closures will be allowed from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., maintaining one lane of traffic in each direction. No work will be allowed on Aug. 27 from 7-10 p.m., or Labor Day weekend. Work will not be allowed between Chapman and Blake streets during the first Friday of every month from 7-9 p.m.
“Summer is short and people want to get out and do things,” DeMerchant said. “We really don’t want to have to shut down the whole city because of a paving project.”
It’s a 1.7-mile stretch of pavement that needs to be worked on, but a very busy street for automotive and pedestrian traffic. Main Street is “pretty short, but it’s the urban nature of the traffic. That’s what makes this project more complex,” explained DeMerchant.
“The big thing, is when they grind the road, the road markings are not going to be there,” warned Puckett. “That’s going to be a concern for people that are crossing. So once it gets started, we need to see about getting those markings down as soon as possible.”
The project should last approximately nine weeks, with a completion date no later than Oct, 17. However some days may be added for the contractor concerning unexpected issues.
