By GREG RUSSELL, Register Staff Writer
Gainesville Daily Register
Gainesville —
Roadwork on Dixon Street in Gainesville has been the cause of recent barricades and dust clouds, but city officials said Tuesday that crews will keep those side effects under control.
Contractors from Lynn Vessels Construction are currently installing new water and sewer lines in areas of Dixon Street that span from Broadway to Cummings streets. Gainesville Public Services Director Ron Sellman said the line installations are part of “Package C” of the city’s Street Utility Maintenance Program (SUMP), and work in that area may stretch through February.
Project C includes sections of Dixon Street from Broadway to Gorham streets; sections of Church Street from Dixon to Denton streets; and sections of Star Street from Witherspoon to Dixon streets. The Church Street segment of the project may begin in March.
“We wanted them to start on Dixon Street because of the Christmas holiday,” Sellman said Tuesday, explaining that some downtown streets needed to remain clear to accommodate upcoming sponsored holiday tours.
And the raised dust currently seen in the Dixon Street area, Sellman added, is unavoidable.
“That’s just to backfill where they’re putting in the new water lines,” he said. “It’s going to be dusty a little while, but that’s just part of reconstruction.”
Sellman said Tuesday that he plans to send orders to the construction teams to water down the areas as often as possible to reduce the dust. The Dixon Street barricades have often been removed during the evening, and Sellman said this should continue as long as the line installation phase of the job lasts.
“Once the utility contractor is through for the day, he’ll pull his barricades for ‘through’ traffic,” he said. “But once the water and sewer lines are put into the ground, the newer street will go in and it will be blocked for longer periods of time in each section.”
The newer street
During October’s Gainesville City Council meeting, councilmembers approved “Change Order No. 1” to the contract with Lynn Vessels Construction for the Street and Utility Maintenance Project (SUMP) Package C, adding $77,681.50 to the total contract amount, to pour recessed concrete pavement and relay the bricks in the intersection of Dixon and Broadway streets.
This will stabilize the brick street in this area of the intersection. Pavement on Dixon Street north of the intersection to Cummings Street will be brushed concrete with a brick crosswalk. The original SUMP contract did not include work at this intersection.
