2021 Update #20
More Progress in a Short Work Week
The Highlights
Repaving of Routes 125 and 30 gets underway
Railing on the north cap wall
Abbey Road revisited
Monday’s day off made for a short work week this first full week of July as we edge ever closer to our August 17 project completion date. It was a week, as most recently have been, of steady progress across the project.
Before we commence with our customary weekly round-up, I wanted to let you know, if you haven’t already driven this stretch, that repaving of Route 125 and Route 30 in town got underway this week with the overnight milling of sections of College Street and the Cross Street roundabout.
Up next for milling are Route 30 between the College golf course and the roundabout, Cross Street, Court Square, and Court Street/Route 7 between Cross Street and Court Square. Milling will be followed by the sequence of activity that we’ve seen unfold on North Pleasant Street and lower Court Street this summer.
Your Weekly Construction Update
This week let’s start on the south end of the project, where the south cap wall, as shown in the photo below, is now ready for concrete.
As we’ve seen the past few weeks, this is a complicated operation comprising steel rebar, metal forms and, on the left of the photo, scaffolding that has been constructed to allow the Kubricky crew to safely guide Carrara’s concrete pump into the forms.
Weather permitting, the plan is to do four separate concrete pours next week and early the following week.
While we’re on the subject of concrete, let’s jump north to the rail platform, where a second Kubricky crew is working toward completing the rebar and forms for the Amtrak platform, as you can see in our next photo, which is looking north toward the Elm Street overpass.
Next week, a new subcontractor, A&K Slip Forming out of Cobleskill NY, will be in town to place and finish the concrete pour of the platform over the course of the week.
On Thursday of this week—two days later than planned to ensure local homeowners were informed—ECI removed and capped the abandoned waterline across Middle Seymour Street next to the rail platform.
Also on Thursday, as shown in our next photo, a crew from Lafayette arrived in town to begin installing posts in the holes recently cored by Witch in the Marble Works side of the north cap wall. A second Lafayette crew will then install the 48-inch-high railing between the posts while Witch returns to finish coring the Seymour Street side of the north cap wall. That railing will run the entire length of the north cap wall on both sides.
On Wednesday, Waters hammered out two sidewalk panels directly in front of the Duclos Building in order to eliminate a low spot in the sidewalk. Weather permitting, concrete will be poured on Friday. The front entrance to the National Bank will remain open at all times during this work.
Earlier in the week, Waters hammered out and replaced a sidewalk panel in Lazarus Park that failed to meet ADA specifications. Third-party inspectors are part of the on-site field team and a key aspect of quality control.
And finally, adding a little spice to an otherwise fairly humdrum week, I thought you might enjoy this video, which kicks off Town Hall Theater’s annual membership drive. More information on donating to THT can be found here.
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.