2019 Update #3

Snow, Rain, Enough

This week winter finally caught up with our downtown construction project. The weekend’s snowstorm and subzero temps forced cancellation of work on Monday (the equipment wouldn’t start) and caused a rethink of the week’s work plan. Then the rain arrived . . .

Let’s review what we were able to accomplish this week and then look ahead at what remains to be done in what, barring a February thaw, will likely be the last week of this construction season.

Your Weekly Construction Update

Utility work continued throughout the week on the Post Office side of the rail line just north of the Launch Pit as Kubricky completed excavating and laying conduit in the ground in preparation for undergrounding utilities at the entrance to the Marble Works next Spring.

As you can see in the photo below, a GMP team arrived mid-week to set in place the utility pole that will bring the electric lines back up above ground and out toward Seymour Street. The pole in the foreground will be removed in Spring.

On Friday, SD Ireland will deliver and Kubricky will set in place the concrete vault that will house the electrical connections on the Marble Works side of the rail line. This structure, measuring fifteen feet long by eight feet wide and six feet deep, weighs in at 28,200 pounds but will sit just six inches above ground.

ECI continued backfilling Receiving Pit 3 alongside the rail line in the Marble Works. The photo below shows the work taking place on Friday morning. That’s MUHS grad Andrew Piper working the compactor and attempting to hide from the camera just to the right of the black plastic vent pipe. The drainage structure is to his left.

Because of winter weather, the Launch Pit will remain at its current elevation, partially backfilled, until next Spring.

Next week is planned largely as a time of clean up. Kubricky will load its construction vehicles out of Triangle Park and return the five spaces alongside the park on Main Street to the town. The Triangle Park construction area and the Launch Pit/Receiving Pit 3 construction area alongside Printer’s Alley will remain fenced off during the winter.

That’s all for today. See you downtown. Stay warm and stay safe.

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.