Winchester utility work meets deadline

Like This? Click Here to Recommend View larger image Islands with boxes for trees are being completed on Cameron Street in Winchester on Monday. Dennis Grundman/Daily

Finishing touches still need to be completed

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Workers have more than just some finishing touches left to put on a major city roads project.

But the contractor has completed most of the work on the $12 million Downtown Utilities Infrastructure Improvement project, officials said late Friday afternoon. Public Services Director Perry Eisenach said Monday that some parts of the project remain to be finished, but they were not attached to a deadline.

DLB Inc. had through Saturday to finish replacing the aging water and sewer lines on Braddock and Cameron streets.

The prize for finishing a day early? $3,000.

DLB faced a penalty of $3,000 each day work continued past Saturday.

"There are several small things here and there throughout the project that need to be done," Eisenach said.

When asked whether he anticipated workers would complete "everything," Eisenach replied that "it depends on what you mean by everything." Some of the items still remaining include putting the parking meters back in their spaces downtown.

The contractor still has to pave the remaining sections of Cameron Street, according to Eisenach. Workers then will paint stripes on both Braddock and Cameron streets in preparation for their conversion from one-way to two-way traffic. Workers also must lay bricks on Cameron Street for the sidewalks, plant trees and construct landscaping in the four, center medians and mark the crosswalks downtown.

Crews will be working on Gerrard Street and Millwood Avenue at the southern end of Cameron and Braddock streets and working to tie the new utility lines together, Eisenach said.

City officials expect to formally switch Cameron and Braddock streets from one-way to two-way traffic, once both roads are paved, on Nov. 7. They had planned to use a Saturday and/or Sunday in November to make the conversion, officials said.

The next phase of the utilities project targets Piccadilly Street but work won't start until Jan. 4. DLB has until the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival to replace the utility lines under a four-block section of the road. Eisenach said one goal of the Piccadilly Street phase is to keep one lane of the road open and to keep westbound traffic moving.

Eisenach said he heard very little criticism or praise on the work done on the project thus far, but the low response was to be expected. Officials announced Saturday they planned to conduct a survey to collect input on how best to handle the upcoming work on Piccadilly Street and other projects.