WATERVILLE — The city will be busy this summer with paving projects both on local and state roads, but a planned $1 million rehabilitation project for Thayer Memorial Bridge on Gilman Street is being postponed until the summer of 2018.
Joel Kittredge, project manager for the state Department of Transportation’s bridge program, said Monday that rehabilitation of the bridge over Messalonskee Stream on Gilman was initially planned to be done this summer, but preliminary engineering and design took longer than anticipated, so it is being postponed a year.
But Gilman Street, from Pleasant Street to that bridge, will be paved this summer as planned, according to Waterville Public Works Director Mark Turner. Hazelwood Avenue, from College Avenue to Armory Road, also will be paved this summer, he said.
Gilman and Hazelwood are state roads, and the state and city are sharing equally in the $366,034 total cost for paving the two streets under a municipal partnership initiative, Turner said. Vaughn D. Thibodeau II, Inc. of Bangor, will do the work, he said.
Thibodeau, which paved some roads for Waterville last year, will reclaim the pavement on Gilman and Hazelwood, regrade the streets and add material where necessary to bring them up to grade as part of the work, Turner said Monday. The streets will be paved and then finish coats will be applied.
“They were in really bad shape,” Turner said. “We had to shim-coat Gilman Street in 2009 just to hold it together because it was so broken, and there were potholes everywhere. We did the same thing to Hazelwood in 1988 or ’89. It’s time to do the full repair of both roads.”
The projects will include sidewalk upgrades, curbing and adjustments of all storm water catch basins, according to Turner.
“It’s going to come out nice,” he said.
The state also will be paving Main Street this summer from the railroad tracks near the intersection of Pleasant and Main streets all the way up Route 104 through Fairfield Center to the intersection of Middle Road near the former Melody Ranch dance hall, according to Turner. Main Street is a state road.
Some Waterville streets also will be paved this summer as part of a $154,979 city project, according to Turner. They include Country Way and Mountain Farm Road, both off upper Main Street, and Crommett, Lawrence, Pearl and Squire streets, which are all part of the same neighborhood between Burleigh and Elm streets. Thibodeau will do the paving on those streets, Turner said.
Also, the state plans to resurface the bridge deck on the overpass of College Avenue that leads to the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter. With the road projects and construction downtown of a Colby College residential complex and hotel, as well as continued renovations to the former Hains building, all on Main Street, the summer in Waterville will be full of activity, according to Turner
“It’s going to be a busy town this year,” Turner said.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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