The new pavement on Hill Street at the corner of 31st Avenue on Aug. 13.
After being torn up for a complete reconstruction, 10 bocks of Hill Street in South Albany now have been repaved and restriped and will reopen to through traffic soon.
How soon? No later than the end of the month, says Chris Cerklewski, the engineer in Albany Public Works overseeing this project.
If you’re on a bike, the beautifully resurfaced street is open already. And the new bike lanes are a nice addition to encourage what they call “active transportation.”
Pacific Excavation, of Eugene, has the roughly $3.1 million city contract to rebuild Hill Street from 24th Avenue south to 34th. The work started in mid-June, closing the street to all but residents.
“The project is on schedule and the road should be open to through traffic no later than the end of the month,” Cerklewski told me when I asked. “Work will continue after that for a few weeks to finish up landscaping and other cleanup items. The street trees will be planted this fall.”
When I tried out the new bike lanes this week, workers were still installing new sidewalks near the southern end of the project area. I wondered why it was necessary to rebuild the sidewalks, which entailed digging into the lawns in front of the houses lining the street.
“The sidewalks were replaced due to a combination of excessive cross slope, or needing to be replaced due to installation of new underground utilities,” Cerklewski said.
Hill Street is an important traffic artery in the Albany street network, and for years drivers pleaded with the city to do something about its rough shape. Now that’s been done, and the street offers a smooth ride all the way between Pacific in the north and 34th in the south. (hh)
Looking north along Hill from 31st Avenue. The sidewalks still need to be done.
I laughed at this article. Here’s why: I was on my way to the the doctor’s office for a post-surgical exam, when my husband choose to drive North on Hill Street (we were newbies to Albany at the time). It was so rough I moaned in pain, and said to him, why did you choose to drive through this potato field?! Thankfully, it didn’t last long, but I’m happy to see the improved Hill Street. Unfortunately, there are many streets in Albany which would benefit from similar attention.
I’ve been here since Nov ’71. Hill St has been a washboard ever since then. It has taken our council some 48 years to correct this pot-hole problem!!?? I do pray for those living 3rd to 6th & Lyons St to Main St for repairs to be made before the turn of the next century!!!.
I’ll give you a math question Hasso. If it costs approximately $300,000 per block to resurface Hill Street, how many blocks of paved roads are there in Albany and what would be the total cost at today’s prices to resurface them? I think all of America is eventually going to be driving on gravel roads as road costs are like medical costs-they continue to increase faster than inflation.
The cost of “resurfacing” is much less in comparison to rebuilding a street. Hill St. necessitated a full rebuilding.
Info (which has been presented many times) here:
https://www.cityofalbany.net/images/stories/publicworks/streets/funding/docs/03202017_presentation.pdf
As usual you obfuscate. How many city blocks are there and how are they going to be resurfaced in the future when the city doesn’t have any money at the present time.
And, as usual, you couldn’t be bothered to read the material presented – which shows you all the city streets, their condition…and the necessary costs to simply maintain them…
I’ll try it again:
https://www.cityofalbany.net/images/stories/publicworks/streets/funding/docs/03202017_presentation.pdf