Brighton city officials say that due to unforeseen circumstances, North Second St. will not be completed until next spring. However, the street has been winterized, and is now open to through traffic. The street is being completely reconstructed from First St. to Cross St., at a cost of about $2 million, with new and larger sewer and water lines, new curb and gutter and new, wider sidewalks.

Contractors for the city and the city DPW ran into a very rainy fall in September and October, and an early onset of winter in November, which put the project far behind schedule. As a result in the delay, DPW Director Marcel Goch asked council at its meeting Thursday night for an additional $89,500 to be transferred from the local streets fund to the general fund for engineering services by Tetra Tech - the city’s engineering consultants.

Council members expressed their displeasure with the delay in the project, and particularly about the extra expenditure. The project got underway in June, and the original expectation was that it would be completed before winter weather arrived.

City engineer Gary Markstrom told council that the nearly $90,000 is not for design work since that was completed earlier in the year. Rather, he said, it’s for on-site engineering and inspections that will be done beginning next May when the project resumes. It is hoped the paving can be completed in two months — by the end of June or early July. All of the other aspects of the project, including replacement of old sewer and water lines with new, larger capacity lines, have been completed.

The Downtown Development Authority is paying for the entire $930,000 cost of the new street and sidewalks, while the city is paying $1.26 million for new sewer and water lines through the self-sustaining utility reserves fund. The street is being upgraded for three main reasons: the water and sewer lines were outdated and inadequate for the industrial and residential growth there, the pavement was old and in need of reconstruction, and the project was needed to pave the way for new developments, including the $40 million, 4-story, Vista at Uptown apartment project, on which site plan approval was granted at Thursday’s meeting.
(TT)