City Manager FYI January 27, 2011: The utility relocation work south of Elizabeth Street is substantially completed. The contractor spent time this week tying in a number of businesses to their new sewer line. The contractor was able to place the base course of asphalt on MLK and opened the street back up. The weather for the next two weeks should be unseasonably warm. Based on this assumption, I have authorized the contractor to close the intersection of Poindexter Street and Colonial Street so he may begin the installation of the decorative cobble stone approved for the intersection. The intersection will be closed for three weeks. Poindexter Street between Elizabeth Street and Colonial Avenue will be closed to thru traffic; however, local traffic will be allowed to use the road. The detour route will be the same as they were several months ago when the intersection was closed. Once the intersection improvements are complete, the contractor will place down the final lift of asphalt and the project should be completed by mid March.
City Manager FYI December 2, 2011: The construction of Phase III of the Elizabeth Street Utility Relocation
Project on McMorrine Street between Elizabeth Street and Main Street is
complete, except for the top course of asphalt paving. Phase IV (the last
phase of this project) started this week. Barricades and detour signs were
put in place during the Thanksgiving weekend. On Monday of this week,
pavement removal started on Martin Luther King Drive and Colonial
Avenue west of MLK. Starting next week and thru the Christmas holidays,
the contractor will be installing water distribution pipes, sewerage
collection pipes and a 24 inch sanitary sewer force main. They will also
be constructing a small sewer lift station on the east side of the City Hall
parking lot. Phase IV of this project has created a challenging traffic
pattern in and around City Hall and other public buildings in the area; and
we continue to make minor modifications to the traffic patterns to make
the best of a difficult situation. Public parking at City Hall is minimal at
best and City employee parking is also severely compromised. During this
week’s construction meeting, based in part on suggestions from business
owners in the Contract 1 project area, it was decided to wait until after
Phase IV of this contract is complete to put the final paving course on all
the streets at the same time. We estimate that Phase IV will be complete
by mid-February and that the weather will be favorable in early March to
complete the final paving. This change in project schedule will minimize
interference with the businesses on Colonial Avenue and Poindexter Street
during the holiday season and the finished project will not be
compromised by continuing construction work south of Elizabeth Street.
Thank you for your continued patience with the downtown utility project –
the end is in sight!
Contract 3 of the Elizabeth Street Utility Relocation Project involves utility
relocation work including water, sewer and drainage and the replacement
of the streets and sidewalks north of Elizabeth Street. This project is very
similar to Contract 2, which is nearing completion in the Colonial Avenue
area, but will hopefully have less complexity. The City is expecting the
contractor to mobilize next Monday and start working on Tuesday of next
week. The first part of the work to be done is the replacement of the
water main on Pearl Street. Initially, we expect street closings for thru
traffic in the block during the day when there is active construction. As
the project ramps up, we will be able to notify everyone of specific work
areas and street closings during the Contract 3 work.
09/13/2011 - Schedule for Completion of Phase II and Phase III Utility Relocation
08/19/2011 - Schedule for Completion of Phase II Utility Relocation
07/26/2011 - Schedule for Completion of Phase I Utility Relocation
City Manager FYI July 22, 2011: On Wednesday, Rebecca Cross, Tim Williams and Rich Olson met with Ted Holmes,
who is the project manager for Archer Western, on the Elizabeth Street/Camden
Bridge replacement project (NCDOT U4438). Mr. Holmes informed us that he is working
on a project schedule, which works around NCDOT intermediate completion dates. Once he
has completed the construction schedule, he has offered to have a public meeting to
discuss the project sometime in August. He did inform us that the eastbound
drawbridge will be taken out of service by the end of August. Traffic will be moved
to the westbound bridge, which is consistent with the information NCDOT provided
during their meeting. Archer Western and NCDOT have rented office space in the former
Riverside Medical Building to be close to the construction area.
George Raper and Son provided the schedule for the completion of PhaseI of the
Elizabeth Street utility relocation project this week. According to the schedule, the
projected completion date is August 8, 2011, with Phase II beginning on August 9. This
schedule has been placed on the homepage of the City’s website for the public’s
convenience. It details the daily work schedule, which of course may be impacted by
weather and unforeseen construction issues.
The contractors have continued to make good progress on Phase I of Contract 2.
All of the water mains have been installed and they are now replacing all of the water
services. Drainage systems were being completed in the alley between Logan Raye’s and
Thumpers today, leaving the only underground work in this phase of the project to be the
drainage at the intersection of Poindexter Street and Colonial Avenue. Curb and gutter
and sidewalk work has started and will continue for the next two weeks as the contractors
also prepare the roads for the base course of pavement. We all remain optimistic that
Phase I will be completed the week of August 8, at which time they will immediately start
Phase II, which will be on Colonial Avenue and McMorrine Street. Again we thank everyone
in advance for their patience and cooperation.
City Manager FYI July 1, 2011: The contractors are making good progress on the downtown utility relocation project despite the fact that they are working in a graveyard of surprise underground utilities. To date, most of the large diameter utility lines have been constructed except for the 10 inch water main on Colonial Avenue. The road surface has been removed on Poindexter Street south of Colonial Avenue; and the alley between Thumpers and Logan Raye’s has been cleared and is ready for the construction of the sewer main next week. Also next week, the contactor plans to complete the small diameter sewer lines and services in Colonial Avenue and they will begin the removal of sidewalks on the north side of Colonial Avenue. Today, the contractors are planning to clean up the construction site for the holiday weekend. They do not plan to work on Saturday, Sunday or Monday, July 4th. However, they have notified us of plans to work every Saturday, weather permitting, between now and September. The target date for substantial completion and to reopen the project site between Poindexter and Water Streets is mid-August. There are three other phases south of Elizabeth Street as the contractors move westerly along Colonial Avenue. The good news is the most difficult part of the work will be behind us as we move westerly into other phases of the work. Again, we thank everyone in advance for their patience and cooperation.
We have received inquiries from downtown businesses who have stated that they are being adversely affected by the Elizabeth Street Construction Project. In order to keep the public informed that the downtown businesses are still open, and to encourage continued business for them, we have been proactively assisting in the following ways: Two light board signs have been placed in the downtown area, one along Elizabeth Street and one along Ehringhaus Street to show “Detour To Downtown” routes to take; a sign has been put up indicating that the City public parking lot on Poindexter Street is still open; a slide is on Channel 11 encouraging people to “continue to shop, dine and experience downtown”; DBPA has included this same promotion to “experience downtown” in the Daily Advance and in their e-newsletter; and Facebook posts and emails are going out from ECDI with information about downtown activities. ECDI continues to schedule a variety of special events and activities in an effort to increase traffic downtown. Some businesses have stated that their business has actually increased; but the vast majority has experienced a slight decline. It is hard to determine if the decline is construction-related or related to the slowdown in the economy, or both. City staff will continue to work with downtown merchants to minimize the impact of the project in any way that we can.
6/10/11 - Update on Elizabeth Street Utility Relocation Project (NCDOT Project U-4438) - Not without unanticipated, yet normal construction delays, the casing for the gravity sewer in Colonial Avenue from Poindexter Street to Water Street was completed this week and a 10 inch ductile iron sewer pipe was pushed thru the casing. The good news is this is the only pipe that has to be installed using the “Jack and Bore” method on this job. However, as someone quipped this morning, now for the rest of the project, we will be using the “dig and discover” method. After more than a week’s delay, we are optimistic that there is an agreed upon disposal site for the soils that were found in Water Street that contained a strong, fuel-like odor to them. If all goes as expected, the contractor will resume work on Water Street early next week, with plans to compete the sewer work on Water Street by the end of the week. During this past week, the contractor completed the removal of the concrete in the alley behind Thumpers and started to install the storm water drainage from Elizabeth Street. In the process, an old oil tank with some fuel was discovered. NCDOT was contacted, and they will use their contractors to properly remove the tank and complete whatever site remediation is required. The work plan for next week is to complete all of the sewer and water work at the intersection of Colonial Avenue and Water Street and to backfill and compact that intersection. Plans are to complete the sewer main on the east side of Water Street, which will require the removal and disposal of the contaminated soils. The contractor also plans to backfill the large jacking hole and set the manholes in Colonial Avenue and Poindexter Street next week. To accommodate the continuation in the first phase of work, we expect the street closures to be the same as they are currently for the next five weeks. We again thank everyone in advance for their patience and cooperation.
5/12/11 - Public Notice - Beginning of Project
5/4/11 - Added Phase Plan Map
4/28/11 - Elizabeth Street and Utility Reconstruction Phase Plan
9/24/10 - See Newsletter from Kimley-Horn and Associates
8/27/10 - NCDOT will be starting a test pile program next week on Elizabeth Street in connection with Project U-4438. The purpose of this work will be to investigate the load carrying capacity of the existing piling beneath the concrete slabs. NCDOT plans to cut three holes in the center turn lane of Elizabeth Street between MLK Drive and Poindexter Street. These holes will provide access to individual piling. The cutting of the holes will occur next week and steel plates will be installed to temporarily cover the holes. The following week, NCDOT will load test individual piling. This will require a crawler crane and steel supporting frames to be installed in each location. During the third week, NCDOT will be repairing the test holes. During this work, the center turn lane and two adjacent lanes of Elizabeth Street will be closed to traffic. Traffic will be shifted into the outside single lanes in each direction. Left turns in this area will be restricted. It is NCDOT’s intention to open the lanes at night, but there may be cases where they will remain closed. NCDOT hopes that these three weeks of analysis will provide the necessary design information to facilitate saving the slab on pile section of the roadway, thus reducing impacts during the future construction project.
Bridge Picture Before - Bridge After Rendered