By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
CLAREMONT — While there have been no treasures uncovered during the ongoing $2.8 million reconstruction of Main Street in Claremont, there were a few surprises uncovered along the way.
And that was bound to happen based on the age of the water, sewer and drainage lines under the pavement that have faithfully served much of he downtown area for decades.
The project, covering 2,100 feet of Main Street, started in mid-May opposite Leo’s Market and moved along slowly to its goalline where Main Street connects to Opera House Square.
And the digging will continue until the job is completed, hopefully by mid-November, according to Scott Sweet, Claremont’s Director of Public Works. The weather will dictate if the final layer of asphalt can be applied before winter sets in or if that will have to be done when things warm up in the spring.
Either way, motorists will be able to enjoy the new artery leading in and out of Claremont.
The top surface of asphalt that has been scraped away by an excavator from SUR Construction West Inc. Contractor, a heavy construction contractor located in Winchester, is not going to waste.
The asphalt is delivered, truckload-by-truckload, to the city highway garage at 8 Grandview St., just off North Street, where it will be crushed up and used on some of Claremont’s projects such as dirt roads to firm them up once DPW has funds to hire a crushing contractor, something that motorists should notice in the future.
The cement under the asphalt is deposited in a separate pile at the highway garage, crushed up and used as needed for erosions and washouts, Sweet revealed.
Former City Manager Guy Santagate and staff secured $480,000 in funds for sidewalk work and road reconstruction. At the time an engineer was retained to do design work. “Claremont is getting money for the project from all sorts of different sources,” according to Sweet.
Money for the design work came from the $480,000 and when that task was completed, approximately $380,000 remained, Sweet noted. Other areas of revenue came from the highway department portion of the general fund balance, water and sewer funds including user fees that were all allocated for the Main Street work. Sewer is utilizing a State Revolving Fund for the Sewer portion.
Sweet said the sewage from Opera House Square, Pleasant Street and Water Street now loops behind buildings along the Sugar River from the Common Man to the Sugar River Mills complex and will be eventually discontinued.
By the time the project is completed, 99 percent of the sewage will be removed from that loop and connected to the new line for a straight shot down Main Street.
The sidewalks will also be getting a facelift, Sweet stated. New granite curbs will be
installed along with decorative streetlights from Opera House Square to the parking garage. The sidewalks will also be American Disabilities Act compliant.
Sweet said there was stuff in the ground “we didn’t know about.” That included one water line that was alive, he said. “We didn’t think that one of the lines feeding Twin State Storage Building was live but we found out different,” he noted.
According to Sweet, much of the restoration work involved water, sewer and drainage lines with some very minimal work for electric lights.
“Some of these lines were close to 100 years old and a lot were made of cast iron and clay,” Sweet continued.
He had words of praise for the public and motorists for their patience since the start of the work. He also said a good working relationship exists between SUR West and the engineering firm, McFarland-Johnson from Concord. Dubois and King of Randolph, Vt., was involved with the design work for the utilities.
Sweet also had words of praise for Claremont’s Department of Public Works crew for its knowledge and ability to drop anything in front of them to go and work on the Main Street project when necessary.
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