Local construction effort now shifts to city sidewalks
With South Indiana Street now reopen and much of the first phase of renovation work on the courthouse square done, the local construction emphasis now shifts to neighborhood sidewalks.
The Greencastle Board of Works and Safety has approved a $103,958 contract with Joe Spiker Excavating of Greencastle, covering 33 separate locations of sidewalk replacement throughout the city.
Work is expected to commence on the sidewalk and ADA ramps improvement project this week, or as soon as Spiker's crew finalizes the waterline project along Melrose Drive. Completion of that work, Mayor Sue Murray said, was delayed by rainy weather last week.
While some of the scheduled sidewalk repairs are as small as two squares (such as along Locust Street in front of City Hall), bigger projects are also on tap for areas like Washington and Wood streets, Anderson and Wood streets and the south side of the 600 block of East Seminary Street.
City Department of Public Works Superintendent Brad Phillips has been busily delineating those repair areas all over Greencastle, painting the length and direction of the project right on the old sidewalk itself.
"Is that the white paint I've seen around town?" Board of Works member Trudy Selvia asked the mayor.
Indeed it is, Mayor Murray advised of the concrete instructions Phillips has left behind.
In approving the contract with Spiker, the board also granted the mayor authority to sign a notice to proceed and notice of award in order for Spiker to begin the project as soon as possible.
The Spiker bid was the lone proposal submitted on the 2014 city sidewalks project.
The longest part of the project is the sidewalk work along the north side of Washington Street from Wood Street west for 552 feet, including replacement of the driveway approaches at 713, 719, 733 and 735 E. Washington.
Meanwhile, a project starting at the southwest corner of Wood and Anderson streets will run for 392 feet along the south side of Anderson, including replacing driveway approaches at 624, 626 and 628 Anderson.
Another lengthy location starts at the southwest corner of Walnut Street and Taylor Place, extending west on Walnut for approximately 230 feet and south on Taylor Place for 116 feet.
Along East Seminary Street, the sidewalk work will begin at the old driveway approach at 626 E. Seminary and extend east along the south side of the street for 71.5 feet, then skipping the next 30 feet and continuing east for 303 more feet (a total repair length of 374 feet). It includes replacing driveway approaches at 632, 636 and 640 E. Seminary St.
Two separate projects are also scheduled along the Washington Street side of Greencastle High School.
One section starts on the south side of Washington Street at the back parking lot entrance, extending east for 85 feet, while the other commences at the Washington Street entrance (by the Tiger Cub Trail sign) in front of GHS and extends east to the southwest corner of Washington Street, replacing approximately 40 feet of sidewalk in the process.