Ortonville- After more than two months of construction and a myriad of questionable decisions the South Street repaving project is nearly completed.
The project has not exactly been smooth sailing. The laundry list of issues include light poles left in the roadway, speed limit, curve ahead and pedestrian crossing sign planted in designated parking stalls and handicapped parking spaces painted the wrong color.
The light poles were moved on Aug. 9 and the latter two mistakes should be fixed soon, says Leanne Panduren, project manager for Rowe, Incorporated.
‘We expect everything to be finished within the next week or so,? Panduren said. ‘We have landscaping and a few other minor items left to be done.?
Panduren met with Al Linson, a project manager from Cadillac Asphalt, the low-bid contractor for the project, as well as Ortonville Department of Public Works supervisor Shane Eliassen, village clerk/treasurer Mary Clark and Larry Roberts from the Brandon Township Sherriff’s office substation on Aug. 24.
Before the poles were moved, the signs were planned to be right next to the pole locations. After, the signs were considered being placed the other side of the sidewalks, but Panduren says the sheriff’s department had concerns about safety with visibility of the signs. Another problem was that to place them on the grass would have put them on private property. Instead, the signs were placed in parking stalls, an error by the subcontractor, PK Contracting. The signs will now be moved to be put on the white lines delineating each parking space, 3 to 6 inches from the edge of the sidewalk.
The problem with the handicapped parking stalls occurred when PK Contracting brought white paint instead of blue to mark the spaces. Although they were informed before painting it was the wrong color, they said they would do it anyway and change it if the village was unhappy. They were. But the only way to get the white off was to grind the asphalt. Doing so left obvious marks. To fix the mistake, the handicapped areas will be painted black to mask the problem and new blue stripes will be put in.
Linson said there will be no additional charge to the village to fix the mistakes.