By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- With the streetscape project officially getting under way on Tuesday and weather-related setbacks causing delays in the combined sewer overflow project, the season of construction continues to consume downtown Niles.
The first step in the streetscape project took place Tuesday as construction crews removed all of the concrete on Sycamore Street between Front and Second Streets.
The project will eventually travel down Front Street and then up Main Street, where it will finish at Fourth Street.
The streets, curbs and sidewalks will be torn up all the way up to the store fronts to accommodate for the city's new and improved look.
Niles Public Works Director Neil Coulston said pedestrian access to downtown businesses must be maintained and automobile traffic will remain as accessible as possible, but there will still be some major disruptions caused by the project in downtown Niles throughout the summer.
Construction will be completed on one side of the road at a time allowing traffic to flow in both directions throughout the project, except when work is being done on the raised intersection at Front and Main.
He said the city will learn more about the details of the streetscape construction project in a meeting with the contractor this morning.
The streetscape project contract went to the Leo, Ind., based-Pioneer and Associates for about $1.13 million. Construction is expected to be completed by Oct. 15.
The sewer project, which is being completed by Allegan-based Harglo Construction, is still ahead of the original construction schedule set by the city, but the work has fallen behind the contractor's timeline for completion, Coulston said.
The target dates set by the city were July 23 for the completion of all underground work and Aug. 20 for the entire project to be finished.
Coulston said it was hard to say what the completion date for the entire project would be, but if weather permits the underground work could be completed within a week or two.
The delays can be attributed to rainy weather and a few construction related setbacks.
Coulston said the heavy rains have been creating unworkable conditions because much of the project is taking place underground. This allows the rain to accumulate in the trenches and cause muddy, sloppy conditions that make it impossible to do the necessary work.
It can take a few days of dry weather in a row to get back to workable conditions, Coulston said.
He estimated the weather had caused at least 10 days of lost time, so far.
The construction related setbacks include:
In addition to completing this work, the remaining construction for the CSO work includes the installation of various storm inlets at intersections throughout the construction zone.
When the underground work is completed, it is just a matter of getting the streets repaired and repaved.
Coulston warned that a federally-funded street resurfacing project will also add to the traffic headaches created by construction in downtown Niles this summer.
The city will have a pre-construction meeting with the contractor of the project on June 24. Coulston was not sure of a start date, but said it could begin as early as two weeks after the meeting.
The resurfacing project will be performed at the following locations:
Coulston said the work on Broadway could cause traffic problems when combined with the detours created by the streetscape project on Main Street.
He said the city will work to coordinate the efforts of both contractors to make sure they are communicating and know exactly what is happening with each of the construction projects.
While there is no doubt there will be some more major disruptions caused by the downtown construction projects, Coulston pointed out that Niles will be much better off when the work is finished. "There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is pretty long right now," he said.