Behold that beautiful asphalt on a section of Water Avenue, on Tuesday afternoon.
New paving may not sound like an earthshaking development, but during these Days of Corona, if something has nothing to do with the virus it should be worth at least a brief look.
In this case, North Santiam Paving of Stayton is putting down smooth new asphalt on sections of Albany’s Water and Front avenues. These streets and others were torn up last year by the excavations necessary for the construction of a 1.3-mile, 30-inch-diameter sewer main.
After the pipe was put in and the trench filled, the contractor, Pacific Excavation, covered the diggings with a temporary lawyer of cold mix or something, which quickly developed holes. This prompted one reader of hh-today to ask if Front Avenue was going to be properly repaved once the work was done.
The answer was yes, repaving was part of the $7.2 million construction contract for the sewer main and the associated pump station near Water and Montgomery Street.
That repaving is now being accomplished. And from the looks of it, when it’s done, those old streets will have never been this smooth before, not even when Water was repaved a few years ago. (hh)
Before the asphalt goes down …
Over the past 5 years since my wife and I moved to Water Avenue we have seen a few changes to the street. First the repairing of the railroad tracks then now the sewer main being installed. During both of these projects we saw a marked decrease in traffic. Now the project is finished and everything will return to normal traffic wise. We have missed the speeders, the people who pass other cars, the city workers speeding to get to projects, also the Republic garbage trucks flying along going to and from Coffin Butte. Of course we have mentioned to the authorities this problem. We have notified companies about their drivers not abiding by the marked speed limit to no avail.
So now we have what the rest of Albany wants. A nice repaved smooth street. I am not complaining about that. I just wish for the safety of everyone who uses Water Avenue to drive, ride or walk.
Pacific Excavation, covered the diggings with a temporary lawyer of cold mix or something, which quickly developed holes.
Covered it with a temporary LAWYER! Great use of ’em. There’s more than enough of them to go around!
Thanks! Now I don’t know whether I should fix that typo or leave it alone…
HH
Please let it be. A little levity (chance or otherwise) helps lighten the societal mood.
Well darn, that destroys the old joke : Why are lawyers buried 12 feet deep?
So glad this is being done. Thanks for following up on it.