LEWISTON — The City Council on Tuesday night earmarked $1.37 million to repair city streets.
Councilors voted 6-0 to create a supplemental borrowing package to fund nine road repair projects in addition to the 10 already funded in the city's capital improvement plan.
They approved the new borrowing without debate.
New projects include full-depth rehabilitation projects on Crowley and Old Greene roads and several smaller repaving projects around the city.
Councilors approved a capital plan at their June 1 meeting that included $1 million in new borrowing. That money will pay for a new ditch, drainage and rehabilitation along Cotton Road, a rehabilitation of Pond Road and surface paving along Switzerland and College roads.
Another $450,000 in leftover paving funds will pay to repave the Lisbon Street ramps onto Plourde Parkway and for patching and paving along parts of Webster and Fairmount streets, Randall Road and Biron Avenue. It also sets aside $25,000 to patch potholes around the city.
The city had planned to demolish the massive Bates Mill building at Main and Canal streets this spring, but councilors voted in March to halt the demolition. The city had planned to borrow $800,000 to pay for that work. Even though that $800,000 was never borrowed, councilors agreed to re-purpose it to pay for the projects on Crowley and Old Greene roads.
The city had also planned to use $570,000 to repair the single lane on Beech Street, crossing the canal to Simard/Payne Police Memorial Park. Councilors decided to delay that project, using that $570,000 to pave and patch seven other roads.
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Paving
It has become very expensive to pave in recent years, both because oil prices are climbing and because there is less competition in bidding for municipal projects. The city does the best it can to keep streets on alist for most needed repairs and attacks based on that premise. The one thing that is wrong is that developers in the past few years helped create new roads and streets and never built the roads correctly and thus they fail to live up to the 12-15 year expectency one would expect, in fact some fail after 3-4 years and then the city suddenly has ownership, the developer (usually a corporation) is gone and no one to lay blame on. Better inspection at time of construction can avoid some of this. Did you know it cost about $1 Milion per mile to maintain a road? 60 miles worht in lewiston
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Good reason to force these "corporations" take out...
liability policies that they have to maintain for the life of their commitment, don't you think, your are after all a thinkingman, right?
But then again being a reptile you don't want to "burden" these poor corporations with extra "gubernment" mandates. I see how well that is working now in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, less "gubernment" good, more "gubernment" bad. Oh no that should white collar crime good, sorry my bad. This is not a new problem with these fly by night corporations you know, it has been going on for years. There are fixes available BUT they involve "GUBERNMENT" that your side wants to eliminate or deregulate. So you get what you get, you don't expect these "caring" corporations to do any more than they are FORCED to, do you?
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I wonder if they would like to use Oak Street...from Union Street up to Davis Street on a daily basis......The holes in the road were made over five years ago and they patch here and there but never does it last more then a few months. I have seen people fall because of the holes and bike riders go flying...We have been on roads for hunting that are in better condition than our own city.....
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.it is, i agree. i assume it
it is, i agree. i assume it is not priority because inner city is 'not good enough'... no doubt old greene road needs some work... ehhh-maybe they will take care of it next year?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.It is absolutely ludacris that not one
inner city street is schedule for improvement. Some have not been repaired for decades while some of the soon to be repaved roads are only a few years old.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond."Inner City Streets"
Tron - there are downtown streets being paved this summer. but they were funded using other sources. For example, Horton St, Ash St and Pine St are all planned to receive attention this year. The item before the Council addressed only the funding that was being discussed at that meeting.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.You make a goodpoint, T...All
You make a goodpoint, T...All depends on who lives where, I guess.
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