2021 Update #14
Turning the Corner
The Highlights
Magic and music in the Marble Works
A break in construction for the holiday weekend
Though we’ll miss our Memorial Day parade for a second straight year, several of our favorite summer events are now well along in the planning stage as we turn the corner into the summer months and a loosening of the restrictions that have kept us apart.
This weekend Town Hall Theater kicks things off with several events planned under the big top tent in the Marble Works. From stand-up comedy to magic and music, you can read what’s in store here.
Nothing on the construction front this week as dramatic as Wednesday’s Middlebury-wide power outage, just steady progress across several fronts.
We’ll start our weekly tour once again in Triangle Park, where Kubricky seeded the lawn area and then laid down straw erosion matting to keep the seed in place. Our first photo of the week shows that matting on the right and a section of the granite pavers recently installed by Landshapes on the left.
Next week the Waters concrete crew is expected back in town to complete the final section of the sidewalk shown in the photo as it connects with the Main Street sidewalk.
Across the street in Lazarus Park, Waters will continue forming and pouring to extend the new park’s sidewalk downhill toward the Marble Works.
You may have noticed Kubricky this week installing temporary wooden fencing on both sides of the rail corridor north of Main Street, as shown in our second photo of the week. Kubricky will soon be backfilling the area on either side of the rail corridor to within a few inches of the top of the cap wall—marked in red on the concrete—and OSHA requires this fencing for the safety of the construction crew. It will come down as subcontractor Witch Enterprises starts installing the railing on top of the cap walls.
Speaking of which, Witch will be in town next week to begin removing the cap wall south of Merchants Row. As we’ve noted in recent updates, the concrete trim pieces that form a top to the U-walls on this end of the project did not meet VTrans quality standards and so they are being replaced.
Next week, Witch will begin removing the south cap wall, saw cutting section by section starting with the side closest to the Bourdon building. The Kubricky crew is marking out the saw cuts in our next photo below.
Work on the south cap wall will take place during the day next week, working around the train schedule. Toward the end of the week, the upper Battell drive will be closed and Battell residents will use the access road along Otter Creek to enter and exit the lot. This week, Kubricky set up traffic signals and Jersey barriers to ready the access road for traffic.
Up at the site of the new Amtrak rail platform, concrete was poured Thursday into the 20 piers that we highlighted in last week’s update. That concrete will now cure for 7 days so the area will be largely quiet until toward the end of next week when Kubricky will strip the forms and start grading for the platform itself.
With the holiday weekend, all construction will come to a halt at noon on Friday and then resume Tuesday morning.
Wishing you and yours a restful and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend!
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.