By Rosemary K. Otzman

Independent Editor

   Construction work to install a 24” water main down Main Street begins Monday, Aug. 31, 2009 and lasts until the end of October.

   The original starting date had been Aug. 24, but that was before a contractor was on board, Darrick Huff, local office manager of the Spicer Group engineers, said Tuesday morning.

   At a special informational meeting for business and property owners Aug. 12, people were told the southwest lane of Main would be closed from Denton to 5 Points for construction and traffic would continue two-way on the northeast lanes.

   There will be a 5 ½ foot deep by six foot wide trench in the closed roadway for installation of the water main.

   There will be no parking on Main Street until the project is over and no left turns allowed.

   The informational meeting was held on the second floor of the Century 21-Belvil Realty building at 309 Main Street, where Spicer Group has located its new Southeastern Michigan office.

   Addressing the group was senior engineer Ron Hansen of Spicer; office manager Darrick Huff of Spicer; on-site inspector Jeff Charters of Spicer; and Dino Cervi, one of the owners of Bricco Excavating which will do the work.

   Dave Vallier of Spicer, who is project manager, was on a fishing vacation and did not attend the informational meeting.

   Linda Davis Kirksey, the DDA’s public relations and marketing consultant, said the DDA is sending out 1,200 mailings and had distributed 300 shopping bags at the Taste of Belleville to encourage people to continue to shop in Belleville during the disruption of the construction.

   “We’re trying to limit the pain” to the businesses, Kirksey said.

   Hansen outlined the schedule that is planned, noting that they will work in phases, but the traffic control will be in place for the entire project. Phase 1 of the project starts at Denton Road and runs to Third.

   Hansen said the water main will be installed and then pressure tested. While this is being tested, Phase 2 will begin, putting in the pipe to Five Points and then pressure testing it.

   He said the individual water service connections on the southwest side will be short, with service connections on the northeast side necessitating boring under the street.

   Then, they will come back to repair everything that had been disrupted.

   Hansen said they have worked out a communication plan for when the water will be shut down from time to time for water main connection and new lead work.

   He said the notices will be sent out before the water shut downs, which will be from two to three hours or longer.

   Hansen said shutting off water service is a necessary part of installing water mains.

   Those with questions during the project were encouraged to contact Charters, the on-site inspector, who will be seen walking around the project, or any other Spicer representative named on the notices. Also, residents could call city hall and talk to DPW Director Keith Boc.

   After last year’s referendum vote, when businesses complained they were left out of the loop in planning Main Street work, the DDA has made a special attempt to keep lines of communication open.

   DDA Coordinator Carol Thompson said the DDA has been working hard to keep in contact with the businesses and to try to minimize the financial damage of the construction.

   “Our emphasis has been, yes, we’re beginning construction, but downtown is open for business. If we all work together and support our local businesses, it will be a good project for everybody.”

   Cervi of Bricco contractors presented a schedule for the work, which ends Oct. 21 with one day of clean-up.

   “We had to build in time for the weather, but we anticipate finishing ahead of schedule,” Cervi said.

   “If something’s hit, we’re not aware of, we can’t give prior notice of shutoff,” he said.

   Everyone involved said they were apprehensive about what they would find once they dug into the old water system and Mike from Mike’s Red Apple said there are some pipes underground near his place that city crews couldn’t identify.

   “That’s the nature of construction in a downtown area, not just Belleville,” Hansen said.

   “There may be some abandoned sewer lines – we hope they’re abandoned,” Huff said.

   The schedule presented was:

   * Aug. 31-Sept. 2 – mobilize and traffic control pavement demo

   * Sept. 3-11 – Phase 1 water main

   * Sept. 14-18 – testing

   * Sept. 23-Oct. 1 – services

   * Sept. 14-22 – Phase 2 water main

   * Sept. 23-29 – testing

   * Oct. 2-12 – services

   * Oct. 2-10 – road restoration

   * Oct. 21 – cleanup

   Mike Windiate of Pro Hardware and president of Main Street Merchants Association said when Main Street was closed recently to put the one inch of asphalt down, there was a big traffic jam.

   He said people went up Liberty Street to Huron River Drive and 5 Points and wanted to turn left to Sumpter Road, but the short light only allowed two or three cars to progress. Traffic was backed up to Walmart on Belleville Road and Windiate said they had to call the police to get them to help direct the traffic through 5 Points.

   Windiate suggested they may want to lengthen the times on the traffic lights and open South Liberty Street to two-way traffic temporarily during construction. Also, he suggested changing the High and Third street lights on Main to blinking yellow/red, since there are no left turns allowed.

   Hansen said they will talk with Belleville Police Chief Gene Taylor about the suggestions.

   DDA member Ken Voigt, who was interim police chief at the time Main Street was closed for the asphalting, said this time Main Street will not be completely closed, so there shouldn’t be the same problem.

   Cervi said his workers will be parking in a designated area behind Mr. Goofy’s car wash and most of the construction equipment will be parked behind the carwash at the end of the day, except the two-track excavators which will remain on Main Street.

   Cervi said his crew prefers to work from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. five days a week, but will do whatever it takes to move the job along.

   Cervi said his crews will concentrate on keeping the work site clean, backfill everything they can each night, and try to eliminate the dust.

   He said they will be putting in all new water valves and fire hydrants, 10 on Main Street and then on the side streets.

   “If they don’t have a good shutoff valve we will find out,” Cervi said. “We find out if you’ve had a good shut off when we cut the line. It goes from a four-hour job to six hours and ten guys are standing around watching water pump.”

   DDA’s Thompson said they are working at setting up a website access link from the DDA site to Spicer for regular updates.

   “We’re trying to do the best we can,” Hansen said. “We’ll try to keep the schedule tight… There will be a 5 ½ foot hole down Main Street, so there will be some disruption…”

   Those wishing to inspect the project plans can find them at City Hall or at the Spicer office upstairs at 309 Main.