Street reopening, paving projects set
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Work to stabilize and replace a 55-foot section of the formerly degraded west wall of an aging building at the corner of Third and Buchanan streets is nearly complete, meaning that North Buchanan between Second and Third is scheduled to reopen to traffic sometime Thursday morning. In addition to taking the barriers down on Buchanan, city officials expect a number of street projects to move forward this month, including scheduled asphalt overlays and permanent repair of the patched intersection at East First and Vine streets
Maryville residents are about to see some significant changes when it comes to city streets.
First of all, Buchanan Street — blocked between Second and Third streets since the near collapse of a 130-year-old storefront in November 2016 — is scheduled to reopen Thursday following months of work to replace a 55-foot section of the structure’s compromised west wall.
City Manager Greg McDanel said a Department of Public Works crew plans to remove barricades and any remaining fencing Thursday morning, reopening that portion of North Buchanan to traffic.
McDanel said parking spaces adjacent to the building and sidewalk will remain closed for a short time to allow for additional removal of materials.
The building is also to be inspected by a structural engineer to ensure its integrity, he said.
Meanwhile, about five blocks away on the other side of downtown to the east, the intersection of East First and Vine streets has reopened to traffic following a water main break Friday evening.
City crews worked into the early hours Saturday morning to repair the ruptured pipe, and on Monday four small sections of water-cracked pavement were smoothed over with temporary asphalt patches.
But work at the location is not finished.
Since First Street is technically part of state Highway 46, and therefore subject to Missouri Department of Transportation standards, the entire section of pavement, about 160 linear feet, will have to be milled and repaved.
Because the roadway was damaged as a result of the failure of municipal infrastructure, paying for repairs is the city’s responsibility, though McDanel said much of the cost will likely be covered by insurance.
As it happens, Keller Construction Co. of St. Joseph, already under contract to the city, is scheduled to begin overlaying several streets in town next week, part of the city’s regular annual round of asphalt resurfacing projects.
McDanel said he is hopeful the work at East First and Vine can simply be added on to the agreement with Keller.
Originally, Keller was to begin resurfacing streets here on June 1, but work was delayed by an extended period of rainy weather.
Assuming no more setbacks, Keller crews are expected to start work in Maryville June 19 and finish up about three weeks later.
The City Council budgeted $300,000 for overlay projects this year, and the contract with Keller, the low bidder, sets forth a not-to-exceed cost estimate of $293,000.
Streets on the 2017 list include North Main (400-600 blocks), South Alco from First Street to near West Edwards, South Davis (100-400 blocks), East South Hills Drive, East Edwards (100-700 blocks), South Saunders from Torrance to East South Avenue, Carefree Drive and Galaxy Drive.
Because voters in April approved a 20-year extension of the city’s half-cent on the dollar capital improvement sales tax, a significant number of other deteriorated streets not included on this year’s list of projects are to be embraced by a proposed $2 million overlay effort in 2018 that will cover a projected 11 linear miles of driving surface with fresh asphalt.
