MOUNT VERNON – Residents are invited to attend a public meeting concerning the construction at the intersection of Parrott Street and South Main Street on Thursday at City Hall. The informational meeting will begin at 5 p.m. in Council Chambers and is meant to update the public on progress at the intersection.
“You know, we have a lot of moving parts out there and we’ve had some problems with the gas company that have changed our construction sequence from what we originally had planned,” city engineer Brian Ball said. “So we thought it would be good to provide sort of a community update.”
Ball, Mayor Richard Mavis and Layton, Inc. Job Superintendent Dusty Layton will provide project updates and answer questions from residents. Layton, Inc. (based in Newark) is the lead contractor for the project.
Ball said that public informational meetings have been common for some of Mount Vernon’s bigger projects, as the city held two during its downtown revitalization construction in 2016. The meeting is a chance for the city to clear the air on the project’s status, Ball noted.
“You know, people hear things through the grapevine and sometimes those things aren’t correct, so the story changes,” Ball said.
Construction on the intersection began on August 6 and is expected to last until November 16. That reopening date has stayed consistent from the beginning, despite recent setbacks.
Ball said Monday that Columbia Gas lagged behind in moving its gas line, and once it was moved, it was not set at the correct elevation.
“They were supposed to have their part of the work completed by (mid-August), and they were still out there last week,” Ball said. “So we had to move our crew, we kind of had to swap ends of the job site and kind of work around them as they were trying to finish their part. We ended up working around them pretty substantially, trying to keep our group efficient. We ended up moving quite a bit.”
Ball said that despite these issues, the November 16 deadline is still well within reach. The next step in the project is finalizing a new water line and beginning testing for that line. This will lead to another water shutdown for nearby residents when the new water line is connected to the old water system, which will occur after it passes pressure and chlorination tests.
“As we’re digging into the water line and those kind of things, as we’re getting that part of the project nearing completed with the water line, we’ve got to let people know what those next phases are and what the hurdles are,” Ball said.
“I mean, because we did have to change from what we originally planned. So it’ll help people understand where we are and just keep people up-to-date.”
The city will eventually need to move the intersection’s power and phone polls due to the widening of the road, and the roadbed will be brought back up after storm drains are addressed.
Those items are still down the road, however, and Ball said he will have more details on the project’s timeline at Thursday’s meeting.
The Parrott Street/South Main Street project is complex, as it involves cooperation between the city and Columbia Gas, AEP, CenturyLink and Genesee & Wyoming railroad company. Several utility lines and a railroad track run through the intersection.
The goal of construction is to elevate the intersection, creating a smoother ride for motorists.
Ball said the process has been challenging for him because he has been focused on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Route 36 repavement efforts this summer as well, which has kept him from dedicating more time to the intersection.
“I’ve had to be heavily involved with the Route 36 project, and that’s taken time away from me being more involved with Parrott Street. So I think my crew, with the city and then our consultants, I think they’re doing a good job. I just haven’t personally had a lot of time to dedicate because I was trying to get things finished on the square and just supporting ODOT and Kokosing,” Ball said.
“So once we get this wrapped up, I will hopefully be more involved with Parrott Street.”
Along with being informational, Ball hopes Thursday’s meeting will alert the public to ways residents can communicate with the city on aspects of the project. He hopes that attendance will be high, given the scope of the project.
“You know, the worry is, you do one of these meetings and either everybody shows up or nobody shows up,” Ball said. “So hopefully we’ll have good participation and we’ll get some folks’ questions answered.”
