Document text
Street work slows; finishing date intact By Myles Murphy Ashland Daily Tidings A delay in the delivery of traffic signals is hanging up some aspects of work on Siskiyou Boulevard, but should not hold up the final completion of the project, which is still set for a November finish. "There's been a slowdown for traffic signals and it may take as long as 120 days to get them in." Ashland Public Works Assistant Engineer Karl Johnson said. "But people driving the boulevard will not notice a difference." City-hired contractor LTM, Inc. will work around the missing poles where possible, and is about three months away from finishing up the curb work which has forced lane closures in recent months. Trees wrapped in burlap await home on boulevard. Ashland Daily Tidings/CHRIS MILLER The entire $3.7-million project is set to be done by mid-November, and LTM has a final construction deadline of December 15. The most significant impact from the traffic light delay is on the planned transformation of the Beach Street intersection. "Originally that was set for spring break, now it looks like we'll get to it this summer," Johnson said. Intersections at Beach Street, Third and Gresham streets, East Main Street at Lithia Way and Sherman Street are set to be rebuilt with the new traffic signals and traffic flow designs. Those signals are needed as the intersections are expected to see more traffic with the permanent closure of the old boulevard median crossings at University Street and Palm Avenue, Avery Street, Alida Street, Liberty Street and Union Street. "The next big step is grinding and paving," Johnson said. The city and LMT are considering doing that work at night to avoid daytime traffic conflicts. "It would be a nightmare in the daytime," Johnson said. The Ashland City Council approved a permit in 2002 for night work on similar grinding and paving efforts on North Main Street through the north end of the city, and would have to approve another permit for the boulevard work. While curbs are poured and the road is rebuilt, landscapers are scurrying in between, putting up shrubs, trees and - eventually - grass in the new median. "The plantings will be done far before the rest of it," Johnson said. Crews have just started plumbing on a drinking fountain in the center of the jewel of the project - the tree-festooned island at the intersection set between the Ashland Public Library and the Fire Station No. 1. The site is now just a big mud hole, but that will change. "It's going to be pretty much a giant tree grove," Johnson said. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -