The View from Above; Bringing July to a Close Lots of construction activity downtown as we build the northern and southern arms of the new drainage system and prepare to bore the first of three underground tunnels, this one 175 feet out to Otter Creek. But first, I thought you would enjoy seeing this overhead view of Printer’s Alley and the launch pit taken about 200 feet up by drone. Thanks to Pat Paquette and Mark Billings, the field superintendent and blaster, respectivel

If Not Ben Franklin, What? Like me, you may have viewed the Going Out of Business signs that went up in the windows at Ben Franklin earlier this summer with a mixture of “not surprised” and “what a shame.” Ben Franklin has been a Middlebury institution since 1943. And then Clay’s left Middlebury rather unceremoniously in late June after some 25 years of selling women’s clothing on Main Street. I don’t know all the details behind the decisions made by the business and propert

Blasting in Printer’s Alley Comes to an End Late Thursday afternoon Maine Drilling & Blasting conducted its 15th and final blast in Printer’s Alley. Our 40-foot-diameter launch pit now stands 38 feet deep and ready for the next phase in the construction of our new downtown drainage system. Thanks for your patience if you were one of those caught in the five-minute shutdown that accompanied each blast downtown. And a special thank you to those in our downtown buildings who ha

A Festival Week It’s rare to see kids downtown during the day. It’s mostly just us adults going about our daily business. This week was a welcome exception, as hundreds of kids and their parents attended the 40th Annual Festival on the Green noontime children’s concerts. By arrangement with the Vermont Agency of Transportation and Kubricky, all construction activity in the central downtown stopped each day this week between 11:30 and 1:30 so that the concerts could take plac

What Heat? Despite the week’s rather warm weather, Kubricky and its construction partners made solid progress at all three construction sites downtown. Let’s review where we are. As planned, Maine D&B completed the latest round of blasting in Printer’s Alley on Monday. That took our launch pit down to about 12 feet shy of its planned depth of 38 feet. ECI will excavate the fractured rock from that blast early next week, with another round of blasting scheduled to take plac