Temporary Bridges Update #27
Preparing for Thursday’s Closing of Main Street
In today’s update, I want to remind everyone that demolition of the Main Street Bridge begins tomorrow with the closing of Main Street between the crosswalk connecting Triangle Park to the National Bank of Middlebury and the crosswalk connecting the Village Green to the Post Office.
My daily updates now reach some 700-plus readers. But that leaves many more in our community whom I don’t reach on a daily level. Please let family and friends, especially those who commute through downtown, know that Main Street will be closed tomorrow for about two weeks. You will be able to travel through town on Merchants Row until Thursday, July 27. In fact, turning left onto Main Street from Merchants Row will be much easier since there will no through traffic on Main Street.
As a reminder, here’s an overview of the schedule for the next four weeks:
Thursday, July 20 - Wednesday, July 26. Main Street closed from the crosswalk connecting Triangle Park and the National Bank of Middlebury to the crosswalk connecting the Village Green and the Post Office. Merchants Row remains open.
Thursday, July 27 - Friday, August 4. Merchants Row closed from Main Street to Court Square/South Pleasant Street. Main Street remains closed, now from Bakery Lane to the crosswalk connecting the Village Green and the Post Office. No through traffic downtown.
Saturday, August 5. Main Street reopens. Merchants Row remains closed.
Saturday, August 12. Merchants Row reopens.
Motorists traveling from the east side of town to the west side of town (e.g., commuting to Middlebury College or Porter Medical Center), or vice-versa, will need to take either Cross Street Bridge or Pulp Mill Bridge during the period Thursday, July 27 – Friday, August 4 when both bridges are under construction. Detour signs will direct traffic away from the central downtown.
Keeping Everyone Informed. On Wednesday I’ll be meeting with the Rotary Club, Town Hall Theater, the National Bank of Middlebury management team, Bruce and Brenda Grove from Inn on the Green, and others to make sure that the people who make our downtown run have the info they need. I’m always available to meet with your organization and brief you on our project. Just let me know.
Update: FairPoint Work on Merchants Row. FairPoint’s flaggers never showed up on Tuesday so final work was pushed over to Wednesday to complete installing a new conduit to serve the Battell Block. FairPoint has committed to being off of Merchants Row in advance of the Lion’s Club Auction and Barbeque. That premier event starts at 4:30 PM on the Village Green. Tomorrow’s weather looks like a summer classic. Please plan to attend!
Final Preparations. I am stocking up on Bud’s Beans Guatemalan coffee and Indigo from Otter Creek Bakery plus those great old-fashioned glazed donuts from Middlebury Bagel & Deli for extra energy over the next few weeks. Pretty sure these are on the NYT’s Wellness list.
See you downtown!
Please keep your comments and questions coming. Send me an email at jgish@townofmiddlebury.org and I’ll try to cover it in my next update.