Looking north on Crocker Lane in North Albany on Tuesday morning.
On Sept. 25 a reader wondered when the street construction on Crocker Lane in North Albany would be finished. It took me a week to remember to ask Albany Public Works, but today I finally did.
“Is it on schedule and when will the road be open again?” Janelle Swatman wanted to know.
Here’s what I got from Chris Cerklewski of the city engineering staff, who is overseeing the project: “The contractor is working towards getting the roadway completed by the end of October and then finish(ing) the sidewalks and landscaping by the end of November.”
In May the city council awarded the construction contract to Carter & Company, of Salem, based on its low bid of $1,861,694. The contract covers about 2,100 feet of Crocker Lane from Valley View Road to Meadow View Drive, including a water main of the same length.
Cerklewski says the contractor started work on June 7, and the contract requires all work to be completed by Nov. 3. If it’s not all done, he says, the contact calls for a penalty of $800 per day that completion is late.
Turning this country lane into a fully developed city street took some doing, and you can read my summary of the how the plan came together here. It’s a chapter in the continuing story of how this formerly rural and wooded corner of North Albany has become a regular traffic-generating suburb, the same as everywhere else. (hh)
The city engineering staff has the power to punish the contractor via a “penalty”? I doubt it.
More likely the $800/day is a liquidated damage meant to compensate the city for the additional expense of a contract breach.
Either way the contractor is out the $800, but could recover in court if the city’s intent is to punish. Your blog post would be evidence against the city. Mr. Cerklewski needs to be more careful with the words he chooses.
I think that time would have been better spent figuring out how to manage traffic at Crocker and Gibson Hill. That intersection is a minute away from a tragic t-bone or multi car pile up. If you are going to improve infrastructure to allow for more residents (water mains, additional or improved roads, etc.) then you must improve neighborhood access points as well.