2021 Update #11
Making Concrete While the Sun Shines
The Highlights
Walls and sidewalks for Lazarus Park
Rail platform and paving project updates
After three days of intermittent rain, Thursday’s blue skies and sunshine—highlighted in the photo below showing Vermont Rail’s southbound freight train about to pass under the Cross Street Bridge—brought a surge of activity across the downtown construction sites.
Before we move on to our weekly recap and look-ahead to next week, I wanted to let you know that this year’s Project Storyboards are up in Cannon Park and on the chain-link fence next to the Post Office. Since 2018 we’ve created these boards to tell the story of the project and to highlight each year’s construction plan for the benefit of visitors and locals alike.
Your Weekly Construction Update
Much of the activity this week is centered in Printer’s Alley and its new Lazarus Park. As shown in the photo below, Kubricky has completed forming up the retaining wall that will encircle part of the stone paver labyrinth funded by the St. Stephen’s congregation. As you can see, it’s a fairly complex operation to create what’s referred to as a “cast-in-place” wall. Concrete gets poured next week.
With the weather clearing, Waters was back in town on Thursday to begin forming and pouring the concrete sidewalk panels of the ADA-accessible pathway leading from Main Street down through Lazarus Park past the labyrinth and into the Marble Works. This work will continue into next week.
To the north of Printer’s Alley along the rail corridor, ECI continued forming up and pouring the concrete cap walls that create a top “trim piece” for the U-walls as they march northward. You can see the wooden forms behind the Seymour Street fire station in the retaining wall photo above.
South of Merchants Row, a Kubricky crew continued forming another retaining wall, this one behind the Smith Housing Partnership building. That wall, too, will get poured next week.
Not much activity in Triangle Park again this week. As I mentioned last week, later this month we’ll see Landshapes install the final granite pavers and Kubricky spread topsoil and seed the green space between the new sidewalks connecting Main Street and Merchants Row.
Other Construction News
Work on the Amtrak Rail Platform took a visible step forward this week as Kubricky began excavating the trench into which a total of 18 footings will sit. Their purpose is to support the platform’s canopy. You can see the footing forms in the first photo below assembled and waiting to be moved into the trench. Excavation is underway in the second photo. The footings will be poured next week.
Turning to the downtown highways paving project, Hutchins continues to work at night adjusting catch basins and manholes and related finish work on Route 7. A final course of paving will follow toward the end of May.
Finally, Belden is now about two weeks ahead of schedule and targeting an end of June completion of the Court Street water main project. The project is about 80% complete, with testing of the southern section of the water main taking place. As a reminder, this work is taking place Sunday through Thursday between 8 PM and 6 AM. The temporary travel lanes through this area will remain in place for a short while longer.
That’s all for today. 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.