Crews began converting city trucks for wintertime on Friday.
LEWISTON – City highway crews started making the transition to winter Friday, testing their plows on new city roads.
Lewiston is down to its last two weeks of paving projects, according to Public Works Director Dave Jones. Nine city streets are scheduled for paving this week, and five more are scheduled next week.
“That’s assuming we have good weather every day,” Jones said. “We can probably pave a couple of weeks beyond that, but once Thanksgiving comes, we know that’s it. We’re done.”
Crews began converting city trucks for wintertime plowing and sanding operations on Friday. Crews load up the trucks with the plowing equipment and take a trip around their route before the roads are snowy. That lets them get familiar with new pavement, sidewalks and roadside features, Jones said.
“It gives them a chance to see any road changes from the plow driver’s perspective and see things like new mailboxes that could impact their plowing,” Jones said. “Plus, we have some new people driving the routes. It lets them get a little familiar with the area.”
Jones said crews wrapped up their testing Friday. They won’t break out the plows again until the snow starts falling.
“We hope that’s a couple of weeks away,” he said.
This week, crews will be putting coats of asphalt on nine area streets. Those are: Rideout Avenue between Sabattus Street and Cole Avenue; Crowley Road from the Sabattus town line south; Michaud Avenue from Main Street to St. Patrick Avenue; Pineview Street between Stetson Road and Balsam Street; Balsam Street between Pineview Street and the dead end; the Stetson Road extension by St. Tekakwitha Drive; Nell Street between Hogan Road and the dead end; Fair Street between College and Central streets; and a portion of Deer Road near the cemetery.
In Auburn, crews will be digging near the intersection of Court Street and Western Avenue doing water line work and road reconstruction.
Downtown, crews should keep one lane of eastbound Court Street closed through Wednesday. Crews will be installing precast concrete panels on the new Auburn Hall.
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