Paving the way
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on October 21, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Crews with Barnhill Contracting Co. begin paving Center Street early this morning as the final steps are taken toward the Streetscape project's completion. All three final blocks of Streetscape are expected to be paved and painted by Sunday, with all of Center Street opening to traffic on Monday.
The wait is almost over.
Construction crews with Barnhill Contracting Co. began putting down asphalt on Center Street this morning, and every remaining block of Streetscape is expected to be paved, painted and opened up for traffic by Monday.
Paving began this morning on the traffic circle at the intersection of Mulberry Street and Center Street.
Project supervisor Gary Pipkin with T.A. Loving Co. said the entire first block, which is the 100 block of North Center Street, will be paved by the end of the day.
"We're going to do everything we can to keep it opened up for traffic," Pipkin said.
Crews will pave the northbound lane today before moving over to the southbound lane, which has been open for traffic since March 26, to lay a final coat of asphalt on that side.
That block will then be complete by the end of today, and the process will be repeated for the remaining two blocks on Thursday and Friday.
"We'll pave the whole (Mulberry Street) traffic circle, then put down the blacktop in the northbound lane and open up the one lane and move to the other side and pave the southbound lane," Pipkin said.
Underneath the 2.5 inch thick coat of asphalt that crews are putting down throughout the week is 8 inches of compacted stone.
The stone is at 98 percent compaction, and has been tested and certified for its compression and compaction, Pipkin said.
Crews this morning were using a truck to lay asphalt on top of the compacted stone, following behind with shovels and rakes to smooth out any inconsistencies in the pavement before a roller drove over top of it to complete the process.
The 100 block of South Center Street will be completed on Thursday, and the 200 block of South Center Street will be paved on Friday, if the crews do not run into any obstacles.
Pipkin said the construction crews will work through the weekend to have everything striped and painted by Sunday.
Once these final steps are completed and the road is opened for traffic on both sides on Monday, Streetscape will be complete.
The construction project has been under way since Aug. 20, 2014, and was made possible by a $10 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant from the federal government, commonly known as the TIGER V grant.
The city was required to provide a 25 percent local match for the project, taking out a $4.5 million loan with Capital One to help fund the project. Of that money, just more than $4 million was used for Streetscape, while the city used $500,000 of that money to provide heating, ventilation and air conditioning improvements to the Goldsboro Police Department building.
This work that has been completed over the past 14 months is the second phase of the city's Streetscape project, as the first phase revamped the 200 block of North Center Street in front of City Hall in 2012.